LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



Chap.. Copyright No 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



HONEY 

FROM MANY HIVES 

GATHERED BY 

REV. JAMES MUDGE, D.D. 




NEW YORK : EATON & MAINS 
CINCINNATI I CURTS & JENNINGS 



The Library 

OF CoNr w prgg 
WASHINGTON 



■ Ms 



Copyright by 
EATON & MAINS, 



AUG i 1899 

3$9r of 



Eaton & Mains Press, 
150 Fifth Avenue, New York. 



TO THE 

MEMORY OF MY MOTHER, 

AND THE MANY OTHER GOOD WOMEN AND MEN 
WHO HAVE HELPED ME IN 
HOLY LIVING. 



SALUTATORY. 



This book, O reader, is for your closet, your 
secret place of private prayer and meditation. Such 
a place I trust you have. Busy times, to be sure, are 
these, and much seems to press upon us for doing; 
but what shall it profit if we gain all knowledge and 
all riches, and even cast out many of the devils that 
torment the age, while we do not properly know our 
own souls or make any real acquaintance with God ? 
Take things a little more calmly. It needs time to 
be holy. Give ten minutes a day to quietly ponder- 
ing some of the paragraphs w T hich you will find in 
these carefully culled pages. Such a practice will 
work the most beneficent of revolutions in your life. 
For before you have penetrated far into this volume 
you will discover that it is not like other books. It 
contains the cream of many centuries, and could in 
no way have been produced by any one man, how- 
ever wise or saintly. If you shall learn to love it 
and prize it at its true worth, you will make it your 
close and constant companion, nor will you consent 
to part with it for many times its price. Take it, 
then, not only into your closet, but into your mind 
and heart, and become by means of it a full sharer 
in the sacred joys of those who walk with God. 

Natick, Mass. J. M. 

5 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Devotional Reading 9 

" The Imitation of Christ " 22 

" Christian Perfection " 51 

Francis of Sales , 91 

"Holy Living and Dying" 129 

Fenelon 153 

Thomas C. Upham 188 

Frederick William Faber 214 

Edward Meyrick Goulburn 242 

A Dozen Worthies 272 

A List of Titles 323 

Index 329 



HONEY FROM MANY HIVES. 



DEVOTIONAL READING. 

Of reading in general it may justly be said that 
he who has a taste for it has greater riches than the 
treasures of India. Truly happy is the man who has 
thoroughly learned how to eat paper and drink ink ; 
that is, how to turn to best account the stores of 
learning that are wrapped up in printed volumes. 
The lover of books has an unfailing resource. Rainy 
days do not damp his enjoyment. Neither the heat 
of summer nor the cold of winter materially inter- 
feres with his delightful occupation. The loss of 
friends does not leave him friendless. He can make 
new acquaintances even in old age, and he can at 
any time renew his intercourse with those that were 
dear to him long ago. God be thanked for books — 
purveyors of information, stimulators of thought, 
unfailing entertainers, the tools of those who work 
in the realm of mind, the true levelers, giving easy 
access to the most select society. They are indeed 
"lighthouses erected in the great sea of time," 
throwing their effulgence over coasts and waves that 
without them would be full of danger to the mari- 
ner. They are comfortable inns established along 

9 



Honey from Many Hives 

the thoroughfares of life for the refreshment and 
solace of the weary traveler. 

By devotional reading we mean the perusal of 
such books as are adapted to aid the spiritual life. 
Its value may be shown in various ways. For it 
has close connection with almost all the means of 
grace. Nearly all the processes of Christian growth 
are more or less vitally allied to it. Take, for ex- 
ample, prayer. Prayer is the grand difficulty with 
most souls, though they do not generally know it. 
The reason why they do not go forward is because 
they do not really and effectively pray. They know 
not what to ask for, both their own needs and the 
divine provisions being very largely hidden from 
them, and they do very little genuine asking. They 
keep up the practice to satisfy their conscience, but 
their petitions are formal, routine, unhelpful affairs' 
which do not bring them into inspiring communion 
with God. The lamp of prayer, one may say, burns 
dim, and is often almost at the point of extinction. 
And where such is the case it is no wonder that the 
religious life is feeble. The remedy is to pour in oil. 
Very frequently do the old writers use this figure 
of speech to indicate the relation between devotional 
reading and fruitful supplication. The pertinency 
of it is evident. As the literal flame expires with- 
out food, so will the spiritual. When the mind has 
been sucked dry of uplifting thoughts by the multi- 
plicity of distracting temporal interests that con- 
10 



Devotional Reading 

tinually prey upon it, a fresh supply must be pro- 
vided. When the attention has been long engrossed 
by earthly objects that thrust themselves persist- 
ently, and perhaps legitimately, into the mind, tak- 
ing for a season full possession of the current of 
reflection, outside aid is required to turn that current 
successfully into another channel. Spiritual reading 
is just the thing. It invigorates the intellect, re- 
freshes the emotions, and through them reaches the 
will. It has an invaluable power of suggestive- 
ness. The affections are stirred. The cold heart is 
warmed. The laggard purpose is quickened. There 
is a general arousement of the whole soul. Now one 
can pray. He feels ashamed that he has fallen so 
far behind the examples of which he reads. He 
learns what his real needs are, and how best to meet 
them. Divine impulses leap into his heart from off 
the printed page. God speaks to him through the 
pens of his choicest children. Acts of faith, hope, 
love, and desire become easy. He takes a new start. 
His whole life becomes pitched on a higher key, and 
the process of celestial transformation is greatly 
accelerated. 

This kind of reading is not only oil for the lamp 
of prayer, but bread and meat which may be turned 
into strength for Christian activity. That mind 
which is largely ignorant of the devices of Satan is 
not properly fortified against temptation so as to 
readily repel it. And these devices are so multifari- 

ii 



Honey from Many Hives 



oits that something more than personal experience 
is necessary to make one fully acquainted with them. 
To wait for such experience would mean a sad loss 
of time and waste of opportunity. One might as 
well insist on learning the art of war solely by one's 
own battles. The wiser way is to draw on the stores 
of the past, utilizing the experience and observation 
of- others, and thus avoid repeating their mistakes. 
He is best qualified to pull down the strongholds of 
the enemy, and to rout his forces in the campaign, 
or capture his country, who has been a diligent stu- 
dent of all other campaigns. This, at least, greatly 
helps. And idleness or weakness on the part of the 
Christian warrior will be far less common when he 
has become thoroughly familiar with the successes 
of his comrades. He will be stimulated as well as 
instructed by what they have done; less likely to 
yield to indolence, better qualified to win victory. 

Very few realize how important for the proper 
advancement of spirituality is the cultivation of a 
taste for reading. A master in these things has put 
on record his estimate that he who begins a devout 
life without such a taste may consider the ordinary 
difficulties multiplied in his case by at least ten. 
However accurate this may be, it is clear that such 
a person is at a very great disadvantage. All the 
best writers are agreed on this point. He is not 
likely to be very thoughtful. He will fall into many 
errors which otherwise might have been easily 
12 



Devotional Reading 

avoided. He will be ignorant of those best methods 
which the wisdom of the ages has brought out. 
That which holy and learned men have by long con- 
templations received from God, and which he might 
with very little labor make his own, he will not 
know, and the lack of that knowledge will plunge 
him into many difficulties. He will blunder and 
stumble along where he might have run or soared. 

To be sure, one may learn much by word of 
mouth. The pulpit is appointed in part for this 
very thing, that the man of God, or the man of 
godly tendencies, may be thoroughly furnished unto 
good works. But good teachers are rare. And 
though preaching of some sort or other is nearly 
always accessible, it is by no means always of the 
sort most suitable to promote sound and rapid 
growth in grace. But in the right kind of a book, 
procurable now for a very small sum, one has a 
preacher continually at hand. He is not confined to 
a special day or place. He may be returned to again 
and again, may be heard and reheard when one is 
most at leisure or most in need. Moreover, he 
speaks boldly, and with no danger of personal of- 
fense, what no individual would dare tell us to our 
face. He pricks us in our tenderest points, and lays 
bare the hideousness of our darling sins. This is 
a great advantage. It is a benefit, also, that we can 
take a little at a time, as we are able to bear it. 

Spiritual reading, then, it is scarcely too much to 

*3 



Honey from Many Hives 

say, has in these modern times, and especially in so 
enlightened a land as America, reached a dignity 
and a consequence that puts it nearly on a level, for 
Christian people, with the listening to sermons. 
May it not be properly affirmed that the reading of 
religious books should now be regarded in the light 
of a truly divine ordinance? Has not literature come 
to be one of the most effective forms of preaching? 
Surely preaching, which all recognize as ordained of 
God, should not be restricted in its meaning to the 
delivering of a set discourse in a house of worship. 
If it be taken in the somewhat broader sense of the 
communication of divine truth to men through hu- 
man instrumentality, then it will certainly include 
the use of the pen as well as the lips, and reading 
will be as much a duty as hearing. One may hear 
in the closet with the inward ear as well as in the 
church with the outward ear. Ought there not to 
be the same solemnity and sense of obligation in the 
one case as in the other ? 

Who will deny that if bad books have a mighty 
influence for evil, as we continually note with loud 
lamentation, good ones may and must be laid hold 
of for blessings? If "a companion of fools shall be 
destroyed," "he that walketh with wise men shall 
be wise;" and such walking is nowhere easier than 
in a little corner with a little book. Most certainly 
we need all the help we can get for making headway 
against the demoralizing tendencies of the day. To 
14 



Devotional Reading 



neglect the aid offered by some inspiring manual 
of devotion in the shape of a well-written biography, 
a series of confidential letters, a collection of hymns, 
or a treatise on the highest possibilities of grace, to 
the value of which aid such multitudes all down the 
ages bear ready testimony, is to falsify our profes- 
sion of strong desire for the fullness of God; is to 
expect the end without the use of the means, and to 
prepare for ourselves disappointment and at least 
comparative failure. 

But to be greatly impressed with the importance 
of good books is one thing ; to know how to use them 
is quite another. A few counsels may be in place. 

It is not best to fly too fast from flower to flower. 
A leisurely process is most beneficial. There must 
be time to ruminate and digest. The gentle showers 
are the ones that soak into the earth and fructify the 
vegetation. So one must bend over a good book 
with calm attention, quiet appreciation, and much 
meditation. As the birds stop when they drink a 
little and lift their eyes to heaven, one may read a 
few sentences and then turn them into prayer, look- 
ing up for help to comprehend and practice. A sin- 
gle sentence taken into the mind and thoroughly 
turned over there, till its whole bearing and ap- 
plication to daily life is clearly seen, is worth more 
than whole pages cursorily perused. Not many have 
sufficient wisdom to see that to go slow is often the 
quickest means of reaching the desired end. A solid 
2 iS 



Honey from Many Hives 

truth really made one's own is a permanent acquisi- 
tion. And when in course of time many such gains 
are securely harvested the character is wonderfully 
enriched. To read merely from curiosity, or for 
purposes of controversy, or because one feels that 
it is the proper thing to do, is a very different thing 
from reading with a single eye to personal improve- 
ment and an eager desire for advancement in good- 
ness. He who pursues the latter course, reading for 
himself rather than for others, is the one who will 
make most progress. 

It is an admirable plan to read with pen or pencil 
in hand. If the book is one's own, its margin may 
well be filled with neatly written comments and re- 
flections. If it has been borrowed, then there should 
be transcription of its best expressions. Indeed, it 
is very desirable that each should construct a manu- 
script volume for himself. It need not be large, but 
it will surely become very precious. Into this vol- 
ume should go certain passages of Scripture that 
have been proved and tried; texts that throb with 
life and flame with light; stanzas of hymns and 
parts of religious poems that have in them a mighty 
pow r er of inspiration ; precepts and proverbs and 
mottoes and maxims that seem to condense the wis- 
dom of many centuries and yet have personal rela- 
tion to one's own position; morning meditations, 
birthday resolutions, Sunday reflections, and, in 
short, the choice result of one's best moments. Such 
16 



Devotional Reading 

a volume will be the history of one's inner life. It 
will hold a record of hilltop experiences, where from 
special mounts of vision God showed one the won- 
ders of the Canaan land or revealed how the temple 
of character should be built. It is no small recom- 
mendation of this practice that it was followed by 
seraphic John Fletcher, one of the most holy men 
that has ever blessed the earth, towering high above 
the generality of Christians, and enjoying closest 
fellowship with God. There is still in existence 
(held in safe and reverent keeping for more than a 
century past) a small, square book, strongly bound 
in leather, and containing about two hundred closely 
written pages, which was his closet companion. 
With its thoughts and rules he nourished his soul 
in private. With its spiritual exercises and dis- 
ciplinary regulations, its tests and standards of self- 
examination, he sought to perfect himself in the love 
of God and in the minutest details of conduct. One 
feels, as he looks into this little manual of devotion 
which was so dear to the saint, that he is almost 
watching the way in which that saintliness was 
evolved. The lovely growth of goodness had at its 
root the patient discipline here outlined and por- 
trayed. Here is the workshop from which the fin- 
ished product was at last brought forth. It was 
mainly prepared when he was about twenty-seven 
years of age, although no doubt it grew considerably 
in the days subsequent to that period. We see no 

17 



Honey from Many Hives 

reason why a book like this should not be con- 
structed by everyone who is in dead earnest to be all 
the Lord's, and so is ready to lay hold of every avail- 
able means that gives promise of assistance in the 
mighty undertaking. Attention is thus concen- 
trated, thought is clarified, mind and heart are kept 
on the alert, and much of permanent value is pre- 
served which would otherwise vanish with the hur- 
rying years. No one who has not tried it can fully 
realize what an aid pen and paper may become in 
furthering religious advancement. 

It is well to have a fixed time in the day for de- 
votional reading. Some have formed the habit of 
reading a little in connection with all their closet 
seasons. And these seasons have been observed, 
when nothing unusual occurred to disturb the rou- 
tine, morning, noon, and night. In addition to 
prayer, Scripture, and perhaps a hymn, they have 
prized a paragraph from some good book, keeping a 
number on hand; varying the selection to suit the 
time of day — part of a sermon, perhaps, ill the 
morning, a Bible comment at midday, a biography 
in the evening. Those who have some leisure and, 
what is still more essential, great zeal, can readily 
accomplish this. Others will find, probably, a single 
period for this kind of reading all that they can with 
regularity compass. Let the period be selected 
when there will be least interruption. With some it 
will be directly after dinner, with others immedi- 
18 



Devotional Reading 

ately before retiring, while still others find that by 
rising at an earlier hour than would otherwise be 
necessary they can give their freshest powers to God 
and make the very best possible preparation for the 
work before them. But, whatever the time chosen, 
regularity is essential to the largest results. If only 
a few moments can be secured, so that not more than 
a page a day can be read, even that, with the extra 
opportunity of the Sundays, will mean, if it be con- 
tinuously kept up, several volumes a year. 

One should become acquainted with the standard 
works. Undoubtedly there are excellent books 
dropping from the press year by year, and among 
them we may sometimes discover that particular 
production which has a special message for us, 
wonderfully adapted to our peculiar need, written, 
as it were, for our eye and heart. We should be on 
the lookout for such a prize and purchase it prompt- 
ly. Nevertheless, there are certain volumes which 
have been so long fed upon by the Church, which 
have survived so many vicissitudes of time, as to 
create a strong presumption in their favor. We may 
naturally expect that what many generations of 
Christ's children have drawn profit from will prove 
also profitable to us, and hence we approach such 
writings with large expectations that are not often 
disappointed. We shall not, of course, find them all 
equally suited to our own times or our own indi- 
vidual tastes. But it will be very strange if some of 

19 



Honey from Many Hives 

them do not become exceedingly dear to us, veritable 
wells of salvation out of which we shall draw water 
with great delight. Opinions, no doubt, will differ 
considerably as to just what these standard works 
may be. No two persons w T ould make precisely the 
same list, if it were of any length. A few, however, 
are in all men's mouths, and quite a number of 
others would obtain the general suffrage as stand- 
ing in the front rank. But it is very noticeable, and 
indeed inevitable, that nearly all these ancient books, 
being written for a time so far separated from our 
own, in a foreign country most probably, and per- 
haps by an author belonging to a different branch 
of the Christian Church, contain very much that is 
not adapted to these days or our circumstances. To 
much of it, very likely, exception must be taken. 
Only a small part will be suitable for prolonged 
meditation, and fit to be implicitly followed. But 
that small part will be of priceless worth. 

It w T as a consideration of this fact which led to the 
preparation of the book which the reader now holds 
in his hand. Some forty volumes, most of them 
such as would be accounted among the classics 
in this department, have been carefully searched 
and made to yield their choicest, most distinctive, 
thoughts on the great fundamental themes most 
closely associated with devout living. Thus, within 
a small compass and at a moderate price, the cream 
of these twoscore books, some of them rare, is 



Devotional Reading 



brought within the reach of everyone whose tastes 
run in this direction. It is not to be supposed that 
all would make exactly the same selections as those 
here presented, and much has had to be left out 
which would be of profit ; but it is believed that every 
paragraph of this book will richly repay repeated 
perusal, and that in every case there is given a fair 
sample of the original author's best contribution to 
the thought of the world. There can be no question 
that he who properly masters these thoughts and 
follows these precepts will achieve a splendid char- 
acter and possess a happiness such as few of earth's 
millions can at all conceive. It is hoped that this 
little book will be found worthy to lie on many a 
table beside the Bible and the Hymnal, as in full 
harmony with their teachings and as containing the 
best available collection of uninspired prose homi- 
lies on holiness. If it shall be made as great a means 
of grace to those who read it as its preparation, ex- 
tending over many years, has been made to him who 
has compiled it, much good will certainly be done 
and many hearts give fresh glory to God through 
all eternity. May he grant it, for his name's sake ! 
Amen. 



21 



Honey from Many Hives 



"THE IMITATION OF CHRIST." 

The De Imitatione Christi — for such is its title 
in the original Latin — is so well known to all read- 
ers of good books that it hardly needs much intro- 
duction. It easily stands at the head of its class. 
Among uninspired volumes it ranks first for diffu- 
sion and popularity. Its editions in various lands, 
languages, and ages are to be counted by the thou- 
sand. Many years ago no less than sixty translations 
were known to have been made from it into modern 
tongues, and the number must be now much in- 
creased. 

Its reputed writer is Thomas Hamerken, com- 
monly called a Kempis from a little town near 
Cologne, where he was born in 1380. It is some- 
what doubtful whether he wrote it; the dispute 
about the matter has filled a hundred volumes, and 
many are inclined to ascribe it to John Gerson, 
Chancellor of the University of Paris, who lived 
from 1363 to 1424. But it is probable that Thomas 
a Kempis will always retain the credit of the author- 
ship. Not much is known about his life save that 
he spent seventy-one of the ninety-one years to 
which it was extended in the monastery of St. Agnes 
in the diocese of Cologne, of which he rose to be 
subprior, or, as some say, superior. Quiet industry 
in book copying, preaching, composing treatises, 



"The Imitation of Christ 93 

and other such exercises, together with lonely con- 
templation and secret prayer, filled up the gently 
gliding days; and a volume was produced (among 
others of inferior merit) which all the devout have 
agreed to put in the first place among religious 
manuals. 

Dean Farrar has well said : "It is the legacy of 
the ages, it is the gospel of monasticism, it is the 
psalter of the solitary, it is the cyclic utterance of 
the mystic, it is the epic poem of the inner life. 
Whoever was the composer of the book did but 
gather into one rich casket the religious workings 
and interior consolations, the wisdom of the solitary 
experiences which had been wrung from many ages 
of Christian life." It was one of the important ele- 
ments in the making of John Wesley, as in the case 
of multitudes more. During that formative period 
at Oxford, when he was laying out the lines on 
which his life was to be guided, Dr. Abel Stevens 
says, "he pored over the pages of that marvelous 
book, Dc Imitationc Christi, which has lent the fra- 
grance of its sanctity to every language of the civil- 
ized world, and which by its peculiar appositeness 
to almost every aspiration, misgiving, or consola- 
tion of devout minds, has seemed more a production 
of divine inspiration than any other work in Chris- 
tian literature except the Scriptures. It had been a 
favorite with his father, his 'great and old com- 
panion.' " After reading a Kempis Wesley says : 

23 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



"I saw that simplicity of intention and purity of af- 
fection, one design in all Ave speak or do, one desire 
ruling all our tempers, are indeed the wings of the 
soul, without which she can never ascend to God. 
I sought after this from that hour." So grateful 
was he for the help afforded him by the book, and so 
highly did he prize it, that just as soon as he was in 
a position to use the printing press he translated it 
for his people and published it in an abridged form, 
calling it The Christian's Pattern, under which title 
the Methodist Book Concern still issues it. 

Being written nearly five hundred years ago, and 
in a monastery, the book is, of course, not altogether 
adapted in every section to our greatly different 
modern life. But its main principles are perennial, 
and some of its sentences are very searching. 

The quotations which we append contain, we be- 
lieve, the very best portions : but there is the less 
need that we make extensive selection since the 
whole book is easily accessible in cheap and con- 
venient forms. We advise the reader to procure a 
copy, and choose for repeated perusal those particu- 
lar parts best adapted to his individual wants. 



ZEAL FOR IMPROVEMENT. 

The principal obstacle to the reformation and 
improvement of life is dread of the difficulty and 
labor of the contest. Only they make eminent ad- 



"The Imitation of Christ " 

vances in holiness who resolutely endeavor to con- 
quer in those things that are most disagreeable and 
most opposite to their appetites and desires; and 
then chiefly does a man most advance to higher de- 
grees of the grace of God, when he most overcomes 
himself, and most mortifies his own spirit. 

But though all men have not the same degree of 
evil to overcome, yet a diligent Christian, zealous 
of good works, who has more and stronger passions 
to subdue, will be able to make a greater progress 
than he that is inwardly calm and outwardly regu- 
lar, but less fervent in the pursuit of holiness. 

Two things are highly useful to perfect amend- 
ment: to withdraw from those sinful gratifications 
to which nature is most inclined, and to labor after 
that virtue in which we are most deficient. Be par- 
ticularly careful, also, to avoid those tempers and ac- 
tions that chiefly and most frequently displease thee 
in others. Wherever thou art, turn everything to 
an occasion of improvement : if thou behold or hear 
of good examples, let them kindle in thee an ardent 
desire of imitation; if thou seest anything blamable> 
beware of doing it thyself; or if thou hast done it, 
endeavor to amend it the sooner. The zealous and 
watchful Christian bears patiently and performs 
cheerfully whatever is commanded; but he that is 
cold and negligent suffers tribulation upon tribula- 
tion, and of all men is most miserable; for he is des- 
titute of inward and spiritual comfort, and to that 

25 



Honey from Many Hives 

which is outward and carnal he is forbidden to have 
recourse. 

When a man is so far advanced in the Christian 
life as not to seek consolation from any created 
thing, then does he first begin perfectly to enjoy 
God; then "in whatever state he is, he will therewith 
be content ;" then neither can prosperity exalt nor 
adversity depress him ; but his heart is wholly fixed 
and established in God, who is his All in All. Re- 
flect that it is only the fervent and diligent soul that 
is prepared for all duty and all events; that it is 
greater toil to resist evil habits and violent passions 
than to sweat at the hardest labor ; that he who is not 
careful to resist and subdue small sins will insensibly 
fall into greater, and that thou shalt always have 
joy in the evening if thou hast spent the day well. 
Watch over thyself, therefore; excite and admonish 
thyself, and, whatever is done by others, do not neg- 
lect thyself. Thou wilt make advances in imitating 
the life of Christ in proportion to the violence with 
which thou deniest thyself. 

TRUE LEARNING. 

He is truly good who hath great charity; he is 
truly great who is little in his own estimation and 
rates at nothing the summit of w T orldly honor; he 
is truly wise who "counts all earthly things as dross 
that he may win Christ;" and he is truly learned 
who hath learned to do the will of God. 
26 



"The Imitation of Christ " 

There is no other cause of perplexity and disquiet 
but an unsubdued will and unmortified affections. 
A holy and spiritual mind becomes the master of all 
his outward acts; he does not suffer himself to be 
led by them to the indulgence of inordinate affec- 
tions that terminate in self, but subjects them to the 
unalterable judgment of an illuminated and sancti- 
fied spirit. 

No conflict is so severe as his who labors to sub- 
due himself ; but in this we must be continually en- 
gaged if we would be strengthened in the inner man 
and make real progress toward perfection. Indeed, 
the highest perfection we can attain to in the pres- 
ent state is alloyed with much imperfection, and 
our best knowledge is obscured by the shades of 
ignorance. Because men are more solicitous to 
learn much than to live well they fall into error, 
and receive little or no benefit from their studies. 
Assuredly in the approaching day of universal judg- 
ment it will not be inquired what we have read, but 
what we have done; not how eloquently we have 
spoken, but how holily we have lived. 

RIGHT DESIRES. 

Let this be the language of all thy requests : Lord, 
if it be pleasing to thee, may this be granted or 
withheld; Lord, if this tend to thy honor, let it be 
done in thy name. If thou seest that this is expedi- 
ent for me, and will promote my sanctification, then 

27 



Honey from Many Hives 



grant it me, and with it grace to use it to thy glory ; 
but if thou knowest it will prove hurtful, and not 
conduce to the health of my soul, remove far from 
me my desire. For every desire that appears to man 
right and good is not born from heaven; and it is 
difficult always to determine truly whether desire is 
prompted by the good Spirit of God, or the evil 
spirit of the enemy, or thine own selfish spirit; so 
that many have found themselves involved in evil 
by the suggestions of Satan or the impulse of self- 
love who thought themselves under the influence 
and conduct of the Spirit of God. 

Whatever, therefore, presents itself to the mind as 
good, let it be desired and asked in the fear of God 
and with profound humility; but especially, with a 
total resignation of thine own will, refer both the 
desire itself and the accomplishment of it to Christ, 
and say. Lord, thou knowest what is best; let this 
or that be done according to thy will. Give me what 
thou wilt, and in what measure and at what time 
thou wilt. Do with me as thou knowest to be best, 
as most pleaseth thee and will tend most to thy 
honor. Place me where thou wilt, and freely dis- 
pose of me in all things. Lo, I am in thy hands ; lead 
and turn me whithersoever thou pleasest. I am thy 
servant, prepared for all submission and obedience. 
I desire not to live to myself, but to thee; O grant 
it may be truly and worthily. Enable me to die to 
the honors and pleasures of this fallen world. 
28 



"The Imitation of Christ" 

It is no small advantage to suppress desire even 
in inconsiderable gratifications. Self-denial is the 
basis of spiritual perfection, and he that truly de- 
nies himself is arrived at a state of great freedom 
and safety. See that what is so earnestly sought 
from God is sought wholly and purely for his honor. 
That cannot be pure which is mixed with self-inter- 
est. Make not, therefore, thine own delight and 
advantage, but the will and honor of Christ, the 
ground and measure of all thy requests. For if thou 
judgest according to truth thou wilt cheerfully sub- 
mit to his appointment, and always prefer the ac- 
complishment of his will to the gratification of thy 
desires. 

TEMPTATIONS. 

Restless and inordinate desires are the ground of 
every temptation. Many, by endeavoring to fly 
from temptations, have fallen precipitately into 
them; for it is not by flight, but by patience and 
humility, that we must become superior to all our 
enemies. He who only declines the outward occa- 
sion, and strives not to eradicate the inward prin- 
ciple, is so far from conquest that the temptation will 
recur the sooner and with greater violence, and he 
will feel the conflict still more severe. It is by 
gradual advances, rather than impetuous efforts, 
that victory is obtained ; rather "by patient suffering 
that looks up to God for support than by impatient 
solicitude and rigorous austerity. 

29 



Honey from Many Hives 

That which renders the first assaults of tempta- 
tion peculiarly severe and dangerous is the instabil- 
ity of our own minds, arising from the want of faith 
in God. Evil is at first presented to the mind by a 
single suggestion ; the imagination, kindled by the 
idea, seizes it with strength, and feeds upon it : this 
produces sensual delight, then the emotions of inor- 
dinate desire, and at length the full consent of the 
will. 

It is, indeed, a little matter for a man to be holy 
and devout when he feels not the pressure of any 
evil. But if, in the midst of troubles, he maintains 
his faith, his hope, his resignation, and "in patience 
possesses his soul," he gives a considerable evidence 
of a regenerated nature. Some, however, who have 
been blest with victory in combating temptations of 
the most rigorous kind are yet suffered to fall even 
by the lightest that arise in the occurrences of daily 
life: that, being humbled by the want of power to 
resist such slight attacks, they may never presume 
upon their own strength to repel those that are more 
severe. 

Let not strange temptations, that possess thee 
against thy will, disturb the quiet of thy soul. Main- 
tain only an unchangeable resolution of obedience 
and an upright intention toward God. and all will 
be well. It is much safer for most men not to be 
wholly free from temptation, but rather to be often 
assaulted, lest they grow secure. 



"The Imitation of Christ " 



THE WAY TO PEACE. 

Behold the way to peace, and to true liberty of 
spirit, i. Constantly endeavor to do the will of 
another rather than thine own. 2. Constantly 
choose rather to want less than to have more. 3. Con- 
stantly choose the lowest place and to be humble 
to all. 4. Constantly desire and pray that the will 
of God may be perfectly accomplished in thee and 
concerning thee. He that doeth this enters into the 
region of rest and peace. 

Let not thy peace depend upon the commendation 
or censure of ignorant and fallible creatures like 
thyself, for they can make no alteration in thy real 
character. True peace and true glory are to be 
found only in Christ; and he that, seeking them in 
him, loves not the praise of men, nor fears their 
blame, shall enjoy peace in great abundance. By 
love of human praise, and fear of human censure, 
nothing but disorder and disquietude are produced. 

The moment a man gives way to inordinate de- 
sire disquietude and torment take possession of his 
heart. The proud and the covetous are never at 
rest, but the humble and poor in spirit possess their 
souls in the plentitude of peace. He that is not per- 
fectly dead to himself is soon tempted and easily 
subdued, even in the most ordinary occurrences of 
life. It is not by indulging but by resisting our pas- 
sions that true peace of heart is to be found. It can- 
3 31 



Honey from Many Hives 

not be the portion of him that is carnal, nor of him 
that is devoted to a worldly life ; it dwells only with 
the humble and the spiritual. 

GENUINE HUMILITY. 

Set thyself in the lowest place, and the highest 
shall be given thee ; for the more lofty the building 
is designed to be, the deeper must the foundations 
be laid. The greatest saints in the sight of God are 
the least in their own esteem ; and the height of their 
glory is always in proportion to the depth of their 
humility. Those that are filled with true and 
heavenly glory have no place for the desire of that 
which is earthly and vain; being rooted and estab- 
lished in God, they cannot possibly be lifted up in 
self-exaltation. 

Do not think thou art better than others, lest, in 
the sight of God, who only knoweth what is in man, 
thou be found worse. Be not proud of that in which 
thou art supposed to excel, however honored and 
esteemed by men; for the judgment of God and the 
judgment of men are infinitely different, and that 
displeaseth him which is commonly pleasing to 
them Whatever good thou art truly conscious of, 
think more highly of the good of others, that thou 
mayest preserve the humility of thy spirit. To place 
thyself lower than all mankind can do thee no hurt ; 
but much hurt may be done by preferring thyself to 
a single individual. Perpetual peace dwelleth with 
32 



"The Imitation of Christ " 

the humble; but envy, indignation, and wrath dis- 
tract the heart of the proud. 

The humble man God protects and delivers; the 
humble he loves and comforts; to the humble 
he condescends; on the humble he bestows more 
abundant measures of his grace, and after his 
humiliation exalts him to glory; to the humble he 
reveals the mysteries of redemption, and sweetly in- 
vites and powerfully draws him to himself. The 
humble man, though surrounded with the scorn and 
reproach of the world, is still in peace; for the sta- 
bility of his peace resteth not upon the world, but 
upon God. Do not think that thou hast made any 
progress toward perfection till thou feelest that thou 
art "less than the least of all" human beings. 

To think of having done well without self-esteem 
is an evidence of true humility, as it is one evidence 
of great faith to abandon the hope of consolation 
from created things. Think on the evil that is in 
thee with deep compunction and self-abhorrence, 
and think on the good without self-esteem and self- 
exaltation. There is in thee no good which thou 
canst glory in as thine own. 

The more thou knowest, and the better thou un- 
derstandest, the more severe will be thy condemna- 
tion unless thy life be proportionably more holy. Be 
not, therefore, exalted for any uncommon skill in 
any art or science; but let the superior knowledge 
that is given thee make thee more fearful and more 

33 



Honey from Many Hives 

watchful over thyself. If thou supposest that thou 
knowest many things, consider how many more 
things there are which thou knowest not at all ; and 
instead of being exalted with a high opinion of thy 
great knowledge, be rather abased by a humble 
sense of thy much greater ignorance. And why 
dost thou prefer thyself to another, since thou may- 
est find many who are more learned than thou art, 
and better instructed in the will of God ? The high- 
est and most profitable learning is the knowledge 
and contempt of ourselves ; and to have no opinion 
of our own merit, and always to think well and 
highly of others, is an evidence of great wisdom 
and perfection. 

SIMPLICITY AND PURITY. 

Simplicity and purity are the two wings with 
which man soars above earth and all temporary na- 
ture. Simplicity is in the intention, purity is in the 
affection; simplicity turns to God,, purity enjoys 
him. No good action will be difficult and painful if 
thou art free from inordinate affection. And this 
internal freedom thou wilt enjoy when it is the one 
simple intention of thy mind to obey the will of God 
and do good to thy fellow-creatures. 

Thy desires must be wholly referred to Christ; 
and, instead of loving thyself, and following thine 
own partial views, thou must love only his will, and 
in resignation and obedience be zealous to fulfill it. 
34 



"The Imitation of Christ " 

When desire burns in thy heart, and urges thee on 
some pursuit, suspend its influence for a while and 
consider whether it is kindled by the love of Christ's 
honor or thine own personal advantage. If he is the 
pure principle that gives it birth, thou mayest yield 
thyself to its impulse without fear; and, whatever 
he ordains, thou wilt enjoy the event in tranquillity 
and peace. But if it be self-seeking, hidden under 
the disguise of zeal for the Lord, this will produce 
obstruction, disappointment, and distress. It is al- 
ways necessary to resist the sensual appetite and, by 
steady opposition, subdue its power; to regard not 
what the flesh likes or dislikes, but to labor to bring 
it, whether with or against its will, under subjection 
to the spirit. And it must be thus opposed, and thus 
compelled to absolute obedience, till it is ready to 
obey in all things, and has learned to be content in 
every condition ; to accept of the most ordinary ac- 
commodations, and not to murmur at the greatest 
inconvenience. 

THE LOVE OF JESUS. 

Blessed is he who knows what it is to love Jesus, 
and for his sake to despise himself. To preserve 
this love we must relinquish the love of self and all 
creatures ; for Jesus will be loved alone. If the heart 
was emptied of self-love and of the love of creatures 
whom thou lovest only for thine own sake, Jesus 
would dwell with thee continually. If in all things 
thou seekest Jesus, thou wilt surely find him in all ; 

35 



Honey from Many Hives 

and if thou seekest thyself, thou wilt, indeed, find 
thyself, but to thine own destruction. 

When Jesus is present all is well, and no labor 
seems difficult ; but when he is absent the least ad- 
versity is insupportable. When Jesus is silent all 
comfort withers; but the moment he speaks again 
the soul rises from her distress. To be without 
Jesus is to be in the depths of hell; to be with him 
is to be in paradise. That man only is poor in this 
wx>rld who lives without Jesus; and that man only 
is rich with whom Jesus delights to dwell. Be 
humble and peaceful, and Jesus will come to thee; 
be devout and meek, and he will dwell with thee. 
Men are to be loved only for the sake of Jesus, but 
Jesus is to be loved for himself. Jesus alone is to be 
loved without reserve and without measure; be- 
cause, of all that we can possibly love, he alone is 
infinite goodness and faithfulness. 

THE PRAISE OF MEN. 

He only can have great tranquillity whose happi- 
ness depends not on the praise and dispraise of men. 
If thy conscience was pure thou wouldst be con- 
tented in every condition, and undisturbed by the 
opinions and reports of men concerning thee; for 
their commendations can add nothing to thy holi- 
ness, nor their censures take anything from it. 
What thou art thou art; nor can the praise of the 
whole world make thee greater in the sight of God. 

36 



"The Imitation of Christ " 

The more, therefore, the attention is fixed upon the 
true state of thy spirit the less wilt thou regard what 
is said of thee in the world. 

If thou hadst but once "known the fellowship of 
the sufferings of Jesus/' and been sensible, though 
in a small degree, of the divine order of his love, 
thou wouldst be more indifferent about thine own 
personal share in the good and evil of the present 
life; and, far from courting the favor and applause 
of men, wouldst rather rejoice to meet with their 
reproach and scorn, for the sake of Jesus. He that 
loves Jesus, who is the Truth, and is delivered from 
the slavery of inordinate desire, can always freely 
turn to God and, raising himself in spirit above him- 
self, enjoy some portion of the blessed repose of 
heaven. 

That man is truly wise, and taught not of men 
but of God, who perceiveth and judgeth of things 
as they are in themselves, and not as they are dis- 
tinguished by names and general estimation. He 
that has known the power of the spiritual life, and 
withdrawn his attention from the perishing interests 
of the world, is not dependent on time or place for 
the exercise of devotion. He can soon recollect him- 
self, because he is never wholly engaged by sensible 
objects. His tranquillity is not interrupted by 
bodily labor or inevitable business, but with calm- 
ness he accommodates himself to events as they take 
place. He is not moved by the capricious humors 

37 



Honey from Many Hives 

and perverse behavior of men. If the frame of thy 
spirit were in right order, and thou wert inwardly 
pure, all outward things would conduce to thy im- 
provement in holiness, and work together for thy 
everlasting good. And because thou art disgusted 
by a thousand objects, and disturbed by a thousand 
events, it is evident that thou art not yet "crucified 
to the world/' nor the world to thee. 

If the truth make thee free, thou shalt be "free 
indeed," and shalt hear without emotion the com- 
mendations or censures of the world. He that liveth 
not in the presence of Christ, manifested in his 
heart, is disturbed by the lightest breath of human 
censure ; but he that ref erreth his cause to the Lord 
shall be free from the fear of man. 

THE cross. 

In the cross is life, health, protection from every 
enemy; from the cross are derived heavenly meek- 
ness, true fortitude, the joys of the spirit, the con- 
quest of self, the perfection of holiness. Take up 
thy cross, therefore, and follow Jesus in the path 
that leads to everlasting peace. The cross is always 
ready, and waits for thee in every place ; run where 
thou wilt, thou canst not avoid it. And if thou 
wouldst enjoy peace, and obtain the unfading crown 
of glory, it is necessary that in every place, and in 
all events, thou shouldst bear it willingly, and in 
patience possess thy soul. 
38 



"The Imitation of Christ 93 

The life of Christ was a continual cross, an un- 
broken chain of sufferings ; and desirest thou a per- 
petuity of repose and joy? To suffer is thy portion, 
and to suffer patiently and willingly is the great 
testimony of love and allegiance to thy Lord. It is 
not in man to love and to bear the cross; to resist 
the appetites of the body, and to bring them under 
absolute subjection to the spirit; to shun honors; to 
receive affronts with meekness; to despise himself, 
and willingly be despised by others; to bear with 
calm resignation the loss of fortune, health, and 
friends ; and to have no desire after the riches, the 
honors, and the pleasures of the world. If thou de- 
pendest upon thine own will to do and to suffer all 
this, thou wilt find thyself as unable to accomplish 
it as to create another w r orld; turn to the divine 
powxr, and the strength of Omnipotence will be im- 
parted. 

Thy life must be a continual death to the appe- 
tites and passions of fallen nature; and be assured 
the more perfectly thou diest to thyself the more 
truly wilt thou live to God. When, therefore, we 
have read all books and examined all methods to find 
out the path that will lead us to heaven, this conclu- 
sion only will remain, that "through much tribula- 
tion" we must enter into the kingdom of God. 

Trials will contribute more to the perfection of 
thy spirit than the gratification of thy will in the 
enjoyment of perpetual sunshine. The safety and 

39 



Honey from Many Hives 

blessedness of man's state in this life are not to be 
estimated by the number of his consolations, nor by 
his critical knowledge of Holy Scripture, nor his 
exaltation to dignity and power; but by his being 
grounded and established in humility and filled with 
divine charity, and by seeking in all he doth the 
glory of God. 

LIBERTY OF SPIRIT. 

Liberty of spirit cannot possibly be acquired until, 
with the whole heart, we are resigned, in all situa- 
tions, to the will of God. Go where thou wilt, rest 
is not to be found but in humble submission to the 
divine will. A fond imagination of being easier in 
any place than that which Providence has assigned 
us, and a desire of change grounded upon it, are 
both deceitful and tormenting. 

Keep a strict guard over all thy words and ac- 
tions; let the bent of thy mind be to please Christ 
only, and to desire and seek after no good but him ; 
and if, with this, thou refrainest from censuring the 
words and actions of other men, and dost not per- 
plex thy spirit with business that is not committed to 
thy trust, thou wilt but seldom feel trouble, and 
never feel it much. 

If thy love were pure, and fixed only upon Christ, 
no creature would have power to enslave thee. Es- 
tablish thyself in absolute resignation to his good 
pleasure and thou canst suffer no evil. It is not the 
acquisition nor the increase of external good that 
40 . • 



u The Imitation of Christ n 

will give thee repose and peace, but rather the con- 
tempt of it and rooting the very desire out of thy 
heart; not only of the luxury of wealth, but of the 
pomp of glory and the enjoyment of praise. The 
fruitful root of every evil is thine own unsubdued, 
selfish will. 

Keep invariably to this short but perfect rule: 
Abandon all and thou shalt possess all ; relinquish 
desire and thou shalt find rest. Revolve this again 
and again in thy mind; and when thou hast trans- 
fused it into thy practice thou wilt understand all 
things. What can be more at rest than the heart 
that in singleness and simplicity regardeth only 
Christ ? What more free than the soul that hath no 
earthly desires? 

Nothing should give so much joy to the heart of 
him that truly loveth thee, O God, and is truly sen- 
sible of thy undeserved mercies, as the perfect ac- 
complishment of thy blessed will. He should feel 
so much complacency and acquiescence as to be 
abased as willingly as others are exalted ; to be as 
peaceful and contented in the lowest place as others 
are in the highest, and as gladly to accept of a state 
of weakness and meanness as others do of the splen- 
did honors and the most extensive power. The ac- 
complishment of thy will and the glory of thy name 
should transcend all other considerations, and pro- 
duce more comfort and peace than all the personal 
benefits which have been or can possibly be conferred. 

41 



Honey from Many Hives 

Often the designs of others will succeed and thine 
prove abortive; what others say shall be listened to 
with eager attention, but what thou sayest shall 
either not be heard or be rejected with disdain; 
others shall ask once and receive, thou shalt ask 
often and not obtain ; the tongue of fame shall speak 
long and loud of the accomplishments of others, and 
be utterly silent of thine; others shall be advanced 
to stations of wealth and honor while thou art 
passed by as unworthy of trust or incapable of serv- 
ice. At such trials nature will be greatly offended 
and grieved, and it will require a severe struggle to 
repress resentment ; yet much benefit will be received 
from a meek and silent submission ; for by such the 
servant of the Lord proves his fidelity in denying 
himself and subduing his corrupt appetites and pas- 
sions. 

PATIENCE. 

He is not patient who will suffer but a certain 
degree of evil, and only from particular persons. 
The truly patient man considers not by whom his 
trials come, whether by his superior, his equal, or 
his inferior, w T hether by the good and holy or the 
impious and the wicked. But whatever be the ad- 
versity that befalls him, however often it is renewed, 
or by whomsoever it is administered, he receives all 
with thankfulness, as from the hand of God, and 
esteems it great gain. There is no suffering, be it 
ever so small, that is patiently endured for the sake 
42 



"The Imitation of Christ " 

of God which will not be honored with his accept- 
ance and blessing. 

Humility and patience under adversity are more 
acceptable to Christ than joy and fervor when all is 
prosperous and peaceful. Why art thou offended 
and grieved at every little injury from men, when, 
if it were much greater, it ought to be borne with- 
out emotion? No evil is permitted to befall thee 
but what may be made productive of a much greater 
good. When thou meetest with injury from the 
violence or treachery of men exert all thy resolution 
to drive the thoughts of it from thy heart ; but if it 
toucheth thee too sensibly to be soon buried in for- 
getf ulness let it neither depress nor vex thee ; and if 
thou canst not bear it cheerfully, at least bear it 
patiently. 

BRIEF PETITIONS. 

Grant, O Lord, that from this hour I may know 
only that which is worthy to be known; I may love 
only that which is truly lovely; I may praise only 
that which chiefly pleaseth thee ; I may esteem what 
thou esteemest, and despise that which is con- 
temptible in thy sight. Suffer me no longer to 
judge by the imperfect perception of my own senses, 
or of the senses of men ignorant like myself; but 
enable me to judge both of visible and invisible 
things by the Spirit of Truth, and, above all, to 
know and to obey thy will. 

Enable me to die to the riches and honors, the 

43 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



cares and pleasures of this fallen world; and in imi- 
tation of thee, and for thy sake, to love obscuritv 
and to bear contempt. But, transcending all I can 
desire, grant that I may rest in thee, and in thy peace 
possess my soul. Thou art its true peace,, thou art its 
only rest; for without thee it is all darkness, dis- 
order, and disquietude. In this peace, O Lord, even 
in thee, the supreme and everlasting good, I will 
"sleep and take my rest." 

Lord, I will freely suffer for thy sake whatever 
affliction thou permittest to come upon me ; I will 
indifferently receive from thee sweet and bitter, joy 
and sorrow, good and evil. For all that befalleth 
me I will thank the love that prompts the gift, and 
reverence the hand that confers it. Keep me only 
from sin. and I will fear neither death nor hell ; cast 
me not off forever, nor blot my name out of the 
book of life, and no tribulation shall have power to 
hurt me. 

Bring my will. O Lord, into true and unalterable 
subjection to thine, and do with me what thou 
pleasest ; for whatever is done by thee cannot but be 
good. If thou pourest thy light upon me. and turn- 
est my night into day, blessed be thy name; and if 
thou leavest me in darkness, blessed also be thy 
name : if thou exaltest me with the consolations of 
thy Spirit, or humblest me under the afflictions of 
fallen nature, still may thy holy name be forever 
blessed. 
44 



"The Imitation of Christ" 

O Lord God, holy Father, be thou blessed now 
and forever ! for whatever thou wiliest is done, and 
all that thou wiliest is good. Let thy servant rejoice 
not in himself, nor in any other creature, but in 
thee ; for thou only art the object of true joy. Thou, 

Lord, art my hope and exaltation, my righteous- 
ness and crown of glory. 

Grant that I may carefully shun flattery and pa- 
tiently bear contradiction; that, being neither dis- 
turbed by the rude breath of impotent rage nor cap- 
tivated by the softness of delusive praise, I may 
securely pass on in the path of life, which, by thy 
grace, I have begun to tread. 

Dearest Jesus, spouse of my soul, supreme source 
of light and love, and sovereign Lord of universal 
nature ! O that I had the wings of true liberty, that 

1 might take my flight to thee and be at rest ! When 
will it be granted me, in silent and peaceful abstrac- 
tion from all created being, to "taste and see how 
good" thou art, O Lord, my God! When shall I 
be wholly absorbed in thy fullness! When shall I 
lose, in the love of thee, all perception of myself, and 
have no sense of any being but thine ! 

SUGGESTIVE SENTENCES. 

Keep thine eye turned inwardly upon thyself, and 
beware of judging the actions of others. In judg- 
ing others a man labors to no purpose, commonly 
errs, and easily sins ; but in examining and judging 
himself he is always wisely and usefully employed. 

45 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



After all, the most perfect peace to which we can 
attain in this miserable life consists rather in meek 
and patient suffering than in an exemption from ad- 
versity; and he that has learned most to suffer will 
certainly possess the greatest share of peace : he is 
the conqueror of himself , the lord of the world, the 
friend of Christ, and the heir of heaven! 

It requires long and severe conflicts entirely to 
subdue the earthly and selfish nature and turn all the 
desire of the soul to God. He that trusts to his own 
wisdom and strength is easily seduced to seek repose 
in human consolation ; but he that truly loves Christ 
and depends only upon his redeeming power within 
him, as the principle of holiness and truth, turns not 
aside to such vain comforts, but rather exercises 
self-denial, and for the sake of Christ endures the 
most painful labors. 

All inspection and all judgment being referred to 
Christ, study thou only to preserve thyself in true 
peace and leave the restless to be as they will. They 
cannot deceive Omniscience : and whatever evil they 
have done or said, it will fall upon their own 
heads. 

Perfection consists in offering up thyself with thy 
whole heart to the will of God; never seeking thine 
own will either in small or great respects : but with 
an equal mind weighing all events in the balance of 
the sanctuary, and receiving both prosperity and 
adversity with continual thanksgiving. 
46 



"The Imitation of Christ" 

With what confidence and peace shall that man, 
in the hour of his dissolution, look on death whom 
no personal affection or worldly interest binds down 
to the present life. When self is once overcome the 
conquest of every other evil will be easy. This is 
the true victory, this is the glorious triumph of the 
new man ! 

How often has the growth of holiness been 
checked by its being too hastily made known and too 
highly commended ! And how greatly hath it flour- 
ished in that humble state of silence and obscurity 
so desirable in the present life, which is one scene of 
temptation, one continual warfare. 

The righteous should never be moved by what- 
ever befalls him, knowing that it comes from the 
hand of God and is to promote the important busi- 
ness of our redemption. Without God nothing is 
done upon the face of the earth. 

"He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, 
but shall have the light of life." These are the 
words of Christ; by which we are taught that it is 
only by a conformity to his life and spirit that we 
can be truly enlightened and delivered from all 
blindness of heart. Let it, therefore, be the princi- 
pal employment of our minds to meditate on the life 
of Christ. 

A holy life is a continual feast, and a pure con- 
science the foundation of a firm and immovable con- 
fidence in God. 

4 47 



Honey from Many Hives 

It is an evidence of true wisdom not to be precipi- 
tate in our actions, nor inflexible in our opinions; 
and it is a part of the same wisdom not to give hasty 
credit to every word that is spoken, nor immediately 
to communicate to others what we have heard, or 
even what we believe. 

O, if thou didst but consider what peace thou wilt 
bring to thyself, and what joy thou wilt produce in 
heaven, by a life conformed to the life of Christ, I 
think thou wouldst be more watchful and zealous for 
thy continual advancement toward spiritual perfec- 
tion. 

It is good for a man to meet with contradiction 
and reproach ; to be evil thought of, and evil spoken 
of, even when his intentions are upright and his 
actions blameless. For this keeps him humble, and 
is a powerful antidote to the poison of vainglory. 

Spiritual conferences are highly serviceable to 
spiritual improvement, especially when persons of 
one heart and one mind associate together in the 
fear and love of God. 

Without love the external work profiteth nothing ; 
but whatever is done from love, however trifling 
and contemptible in the opinion of men, is wholly 
fruitful in the acceptance of God, who regardeth 
more the degree of love with which we act than 
what or how much we have performed. He doeth 
much who loveth much; he doeth much who doeth 
well ; and he doeth much and well who constantly 
48 



'The Imitation of Christ " 

preferreth the good of the community to the grati- 
fication of his own will. 

Endeavor to be always patient of the faults and 
imperfections of others ; for thou hast many faults 
and imperfections that require a reciprocation of 
forbearance. If all men were perfect we should 
meet with nothing in the conduct of others to suffer 
for the sake of God. 

We ought every day to renew our holy resolu- 
tions, and excite ourselves to more animated fervor, 
as if it were the first day of our conversion; and to 
say. Assist me, O Lord God, in my resolutions to 
devote myself to thy holy service; and grant that 
this day I may begin to walk perfectly, because all 
that I have done hitherto is nothing. 

Xo man can safely go abroad that does not love 
to stay at home : no man can safely speak that does 
not willingly hold his tongue; no man can safely 
govern that would not cheerfully become subject; 
no man can safely command that has not truly 
learned to obey ; and no man can safely rejoice but 
he that has the testimony of a good conscience. 

Grieve not that thou dost not enjoy the favor of 
men, but rather grieve that thou hast not walked 
with that holy vigilance and self-denial which be- 
come a true Christian and a devoted servant of God. 

While the mind is invigorated by health of body 
thou wilt be able to do much toward thy purifica- 
tion; but when it is oppressed and debilitated by 

49 



Honey from Many Hives 

sickness I know not what thou canst do. Few 
spirits are made better by the pain and languor of 
sickness. 

It is better to turn away from all that produces 
perplexity and disturbance, and to leave everyone 
in the enjoyment of his own opinion, than to be held 
in subjection by contentious arguments. 

All is vanity but the love of God and a life de- 
voted to his will. 
5° 



"Christian Perfection 



"CHRISTIAN PERFECTION/' 

Alphonsus Rodriguez, author of one of the 
very best works on Christian Perfection which has 
ever seen the light, was born at Valladolid, in Spain, 
in 1526. He received the degree of Doctor in 
Philosophy at the University of Salamanca, and 
afterward, discharging the office of professor of 
moral philosophy, became so famous for his lectures 
that students flocked to hear him from all parts of 
the country. After twelve years of this public teach- 
ing he devoted himself for the remainder of his life 
to imparting spiritual instruction to young priests 
and monks, and he soon came to be looked upon as 
"one of the greatest masters of the science of the 
saints and the conduct of souls. " In Cordova, 
Seville, Valladolid, and Montilla he spent his time 
doing good until his departure to a better world, in 
16 1 6, having been greatly honored and loved by all 
who knew him. It is written of him that "he lived 
so entirely detached from himself, and from every 
feeling of self-love, that he regarded God alone in 
all things. He showed an ardent zeal for the salva- 
tion of souls, and left the world an heroic example 
of holiness. Whatever leisure time he could spare 
from his indispensable occupations he employed in 
mental prayer and in spiritual reading. He taught 
nothing which he did not himself practice, and his 
book is but the mirror of his life." 

S 1 



Honey from Many Hives 

The book, The Practice of Christian Perfection, 
is the mature result of his lifelong study, and a di- 
gest of the directions which he was accustomed to 
give to those under his care. It was first published 
at Seville in 1614, and was soon translated into all 
the languages of Europe. Of French translations 
there are no fewer than six. The work is divided 
into eighteen parts, and each part is subdivided into 
many chapters. The unabridged edition is in three 
large volumes, but a revised edition, more suitable 
to the majority of Christians, is published in two 
small volumes by Burns & Oates, of London. Most 
of it is as well adapted to the profit of Protestants 
as of Roman Catholics ; but the selections which we 
append, since they contain the cream of the distinc- 
tive teachings of the author, will doubtless be found 
sufficient for ordinary readers. 



SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT. 

One of the principal causes of the little progress 
we make in holiness is that we do not desire and 
long for it with sufficient earnestness; we desire it, 
it is true, but so feebly and coldly that the desires we 
form vanish almost as soon as they are conceived. 

It is said of Apelles that, in whatsoever business 
he was engaged, he never let pass a day without 
exercising himself in his own profession by paint- 
ing something or other. For this purpose he always 
endeavored to find out some time amidst his other 
52 



"Christian Perfection " 

employments, and to excuse himself from going into 
company was wont to say, "This day I have not as 
yet drawn one stroke with my pencil;" so that by 
this means he became a most excellent painter. In 
like manner you will become an excellent Christian 
if you let no day pass without making some ad- 
vancement in virtue. Practice daily some act of 
mortification, correct some fault you were accus- 
tomed to commit, and you will quickly find that your 
life will become every day more perfect. When you 
examine your conscience at noon and perceive that 
you have done nothing that morning conducive to 
your improvement, that you have mortified yourself 
in nothing, that you have performed no act of hu- 
mility when occasions offered themselves, believe 
that you have lost so much time, and make a firm 
resolution not to let the remaining part of the day 
pass in the same manner. You will find it impos- 
sible to observe this rule without gradually advan- 
cing, and making by degrees a considerable progress 
in the way of perfection. 

"The path of the just is as the shining light, that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The 
just man never believes that he has fully performed 
his duty; he never says it is enough, but always 
hungers and thirsts after righteousness; so that if 
he were to live here forever he would perpetually 
strive to become more righteous and more perfect, 
and to advance always from good to better. 

53 



Honey from Many Hives 

We must never think we are holy enough, but 
always aspire to become still more so. Whoever 
wishes to be a saint must forget what he has done 
and constantly think on what he has still to do. He 
is truly happy who advances daily, and who never 
thinks on what he did yesterday but what he has to 
do to-day in order to make new progress. The 
former tempts us to repose, the latter incites us to 
go on. It is a great shame and confusion to us that 
worldly men desire those things that are pernicious 
to them with more earnestness than we desire those 
things that are of the greatest advantage, and that 
they run faster to death than we do to life. 

BROTHERLY LOVE. 

The love which each of us owes God is a debt 
he has transferred to our neighbor; and the char- 
ity you exercise toward your brother you exer- 
cise toward God, who receives it as if it were 
done to himself. This ought to be a powerful mo- 
tive to excite us to love our brethren, and do them 
all the good we can; because though it seems to us 
that we do it to those to whom we owe nothing, yet 
if we look upon God, and reflect upon the infinite 
obligations we are under to him, and consider that 
he has transferred all his right to them, we shall find 
that we are indebted to them for all we have. 

One of the things by which we ought most of all 
to testify the love we have for our brethren is the 
54 



"Christian Perfection " 

speaking of them in such manner as to make known 
to others the esteem we ourselves have for them. 
Though your brother has his defects, it is hard also 
if he should not have something commendable in 
him. Imitate the bee, which lights upon flowers 
only, not minding the thorns that surround them; 
and follow not the example of the beetle, which 
lights upon nothing else but dirt. 

Never speak ill of your neighbor or discover his 
defects, though ever so small or apparent. Never 
do him any prejudice, or let the least contempt of 
him appear, either in his presence or absence. Never 
tell anyone what has been said of him when the 
thing may give him the least offense, because this is 
to sow discord amongst brethren. 

Never break out into passionate words, nor say 
anything mortifying to your neighbor, nor be ob- 
stinate in your own opinion, nor dispute nor contest 
with heat, nor reprehend anyone over whom you 
have no authority. Behave sweetly and charitably 
to everyone, doing everything in your power to 
serve others and make them happy. And if by your 
office you are in a more special manner bound to 
serve your neighbor and to take care of him, you 
must apply yourself to it still more particularly, and 
endeavor, by sweetness of manners, of words, and 
answers, to supply whatever is not in your power to 
do for him. 

Never judge your neighbor, but endeavor to ex- 

55 



Honey from Many Hives 

cuse the faults he commits against others and 
against yourself ; and in general have a good opin- 
ion of everyone, harboring no aversion nor show- 
ing the least sign thereof, either by abstaining from 
speaking to him or neglecting to succor him in his 
necessities. 

PRESENCE OF GOD. 

To employ ourselves continually in the exercise of 
the presence of God is to begin in this life to enjoy 
the felicity of the blessed in the next. The saints 
and patriarchs of the Old Testament took particular 
care to walk always in God's presence. Without 
doubt they impose upon themselves a strict obliga- 
tion to live well who consider that all they do is 
done in the presence of a Judge who sees all, and 
from whom nothing can be concealed. If the pres- 
ence of a grave person is sufficient to keep us to our 
duty, what effect ought not the presence of the in- 
finite majesty of God to produce in us? What serv- 
ant is there so insolent as to despise his master's 
orders in his very presence? 

The presence of God is a sovereign and universal 
remedy for all the temptations of the devil and all 
the repugnances of nature. So that if you desire a 
short and easy means to gain perfection, and such a 
one as contains within itself the force and efficacy 
of all others, make use of this which God himself 
gave to Abraham, "Walk before me, and be thou 
perfect." 
56 



"Christian Perfection " 

See how the moon depends upon the sun ; see how 
necessary it is for her to keep her face always to it. 
As soon as anything interposes between the sun and 
moon the moon presently loses its light and force. 
The same thing happens between the soul and God, 
who is its sun; and it is for this reason that the 
saints so earnestly exhort us to have the presence of 
God constantly before our eyes. 

To place ourselves in the presence of God it is 
not necessary we should represent him as by our 
side, or in this or that particular place, nor imagine 
him as under such or such a form. What we are to 
do is to believe, as a certain truth, that he is really 
and effectually everywhere. But we must not only 
employ our understanding to consider God as pres- 
ent; we must afterward exercise our will in loving 
him, and in uniting ourselves to him as present ; and 
it is in this that the chief exercise of the presence 
of God consists. 

The act of the will by which we must elevate our 
hearts to God in this exercise consists in the ardent 
desires of the soul to unite itself to him in the bond 
of a perfect love. These desires and aspirations are 
expressed by short and frequent prayers, which are 
called "ejaculatory," that is to say, "suddenly shot 
forth/' because they are like inflamed darts or ar- 
rows which the heart shoots, one after another, 
toward God. 

St. Basil makes the practice of this exercise to 

57 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

consist in taking occasion from all things to call God 
to mind. If we eat. let us give thanks to God ; if 
we clothe or dress ourselves, let us always render 
him thanks; if we look up to the heavens, letus praise 
God who created them; and as often as we awake 
in the night, let us never fail to elevate our hearts 
to God. Endeavor in all things you do to elevate 
your heart to him. saying. "Lord, it is for thy sake 
I do this ; it is to please thee ; all my joy, all my satis- 
faction is the fulfilling of thy will, and so that I 
do but please thee I desire nothing more." This is 
a most excellent and perfect way of walking in 
God's presence; because it is to entertain ourselves 
in a continual exercise of the love of God. Of all 
the means we can imagine there is no one better or 
more profitable than this, to keep ourselves always 
in that continual prayer which our Saviour requires 
we should practice. 

Moreover, we must take notice that when we 
make these acts, and say these petitions, we must 
say them, not as elevating our heart or raising our 
thought to something without us. but as speaking to 
God present within us; for this is properly to walk 
in the presence of God. and this is what will render 
tins more sweet, pleasant, easy, and profitable to us 
than any other sort of prayer whatsoever. 

But that which we must most of all take notice 
of is that when we put ourselves in the presence of 
God it is not to remain or rest there, but that this 
53 



"Christian Perfection " 

presence may serve as a means or help to perform 
all our actions. For if we content ourselves with 
barely attending to the presence of God, and so be- 
come negligent in our actions, this attention would 
be no profitable devotion, but a very hurtful illusion. 
Whilst, therefore, we have one eye engaged in con- 
templating God, we must engage the other in seeing 
how to do all things well for his love; so that the 
consideration of our being in his presence may be a 
means to oblige us to do all our actions better. 

CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD. 

Our perfection consists in conformity to the will 
of God, and the greater this conformity is the 
greater also will be our perfection. Perfection es- 
sentially consists in the love of God, and the more 
we love God the more perfect we shall be. But as 
the love of God is the most elevated and most per- 
fect of all virtues, so the most sublime, the most 
pure, and the most excellent practice of this love is 
an absolute conformity to the divine will. More- 
over, it is certain that there is nothing better or 
more perfect than the will of God, and consequently 
we shall become better and more perfect in propor- 
tion to our union with this will. 

There can nothing happen in this world but by 
the order and will of God. And this is always to 
be understood except of sin, of which he is neither 
the cause nor author. Sin excepted, all other things, 

59 



Honey from Many Hives 

as sufferings, pains, and afflictions, happen by the 
order and by the will of God. This is a truth not 
to be called in question ; for, though all these things 
proceed from second causes, it is certain that there is 
nothing done throughout the universe but by the 
command and will of one sovereign Master who 
orders and governs all. There is nothing that hap- 
pens by chance. There is not a leaf that stirs upon 
a tree but by his will. And it is by this will that 
those things are regulated in which chance seems 
to have a greater share. 

We ought to infer from these truths that we must 
receive all things as coming from the hand of God, 
and in them conform ourselves entirely to his divine 
will. We must look upon nothing as happening by 
chance, or by the conduct or malice of man ; for this 
is what ordinarily is wont to give us most trouble 
and pain; nor must we imagine that this or that 
thing has happened to us because such or such a one 
had a hand in it; nor that, if such or such an acci- 
dent had happened, things would have fallen out 
after a different manner. About this we must not 
amuse or trouble ourselves; but in what way or 
what manner soever anything happens to us we 
must always receive as coming from the hand of 
God ? because it is he in reality who by these means 
sends it to us. An ancient father in the desert was 
wont to say that a man would never enjoy true 
peace and satisfaction in this life till he could per- 
60 



"Christian Perfection 99 

suade himself that only God and he were in this 
world. 

It is a truth so firmly supported by the authority 
of Holy Scripture that all misfortunes and suffer- 
ings come from the hand of God, that it would not 
be necessary to prove it at greater length if the devil, 
by his vain subtleties, did not endeavor to obscure 
it and render it doubtful by insisting that the evils 
which happen by means of man proceed only from 
malice and sinful will. When we have anything 
said against us we imitate dogs which, when a stone 
is thrown at them, run to bite it, and take no notice 
of him that threw it; so we take no notice of God 
who sends us these mortifications, but run after the 
stone and make an attack upon our neighbor. 

Observe that in every sin we commit there are 
two things. The one is the motion or exterior act, 
the other the irregularity of the will, by which we 
transgress what the commandments of God pre- 
scribe. God is the cause and author of the first; 
man only is the cause and author of the second. It 
is God who produces the motions, as he produces all 
other effects that proceed from irrational creatures. 
For, as they cannot move themselves, or act without 
God, so neither can man without his help move his 
arms or other limbs. Moreover, these kinds of nat- 
ural motions or actions have nothing in them that 
is bad; because, if a man should make use of them, 
and either for his own defense, or in a just war, or 

61 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

as a minister of justice, should kill another, it is cer- 
tain he would not commit any sin. But in what 
makes the action sinful — that is to say. the irregu- 
larity of the will that moves or determines him to 
commit a murder — he is not the cause of it. The 
truth of this is explained by the following compari- 
son : One has received a hurt in his foot which 
makes him lame. What causes him to walk is the 
faculty and power he has to move himself, but what 
causes him to halt is the hurt in his foot. It is the 
same in every vicious or sinful action. The cause 
of the action is God ; but the cause of the sin. mixed 
with the action, proceeds from the free will of man. 

So that God neither is nor can be the cause or 
author of sin. But as to other evils, whether they 
proceed from natural causes and irrational crea- 
tures, or whether they come from men, or from 
whatever other source they spring, or in whatever 
manner they may happen, we must believe for cer- 
tain that they proceed from the hand of God, and 
happen to us by his divine providence. It is God 
that moved the hand of him that struck you, it is 
God that gave motion to his tongue who gave you 
injurious language. "Shall there be evil in a city." 
says the prophet Amos, "and the Lord hath not done 
it?'" Which truth the Holy Scripture frequently 
takes note of. often attributing to God the evil which 
one man does to another, and saying that it is God 
himself that has done it. 
62 



"Christian Perfection 



Those who have attained a perfect conformity to 
the divine will, and who place their own content- 
ment in that of God, never suffer themselves to be 
disquieted at the changes and accidents of this life. 
Their will is so fully subjected to that of God 
that the very assurance they have that all things 
come as sent by him, and that his holy will is ac- 
complished in whatever adversity happens to them, 
makes them, by preferring his will to their own, 
look upon all their tribulations and sufferings as so 
many joys, and all their griefs and sorrows as so 
much sweetness and consolation. Hence it is that 
nothing can trouble them; for as trouble can come 
only from crosses, misfortunes, or affronts, and as 
these, through respect for the hand which sends 
them, are received by them as so many favors, it 
follows that there is nothing which can change or 
diminish the peace and tranquillity of their soul. 
Each day of their life is a day of jubilee and exulta- 
tion. Having attained a perfect conformity to the 
divine will, they meet everywhere sources of content 
and satisfaction. 

The holy abbot Deicola is said always to have had 
a smile on his countenance; and, being once asked 
why he was uniformly so cheerful, he answered that 
it was because no one could deprive him of Jesus 
Christ. He had experienced a real content since he 
had placed all his felicity in that which could never 
fail and which could never be taken from him. 

5 63 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



It is certain if you never desire anything but what 
God desires you will always attain the object of 
your desires, because God's holy will can never fail 
of being entirely performed. How happy we when 
we covet nothing but what God pleases ! And how 
happy, not only because our own will is accom- 
plished, but because we see the will of God. whom we 
love, accomplished in us and in all things. It is the 
second consideration on which we ought chiefly to 
dwell: and it is only in the contentment of God. and 
in the execution of his holy will, that we ought to 
place all our joy and satisfaction. 

This conformity to the will of God is a most effi- 
cacious means for the attaining of all other virtues. 
Exercise in the one is exercise in all. Occasions 
occur every moment of practicing humility, obedi- 
ence, patience, and the rest. The obtaining the one 
virtue will put us in possession of all. If you desire 
an easy and compendious way of attaining perfec- 
tion, here you have it. Say daily, "Lord, what 
wouldst thou have me to do?" Have always these 
words in your mouth and heart : and according as 
you strengthen yourself in these holy sentiments, so 
will you increase in the perfection you aim at. 

We must endeavor, in our prayers, to reduce by 
frequent acts this exercise to practice : and never 
cease searching this rich vein of God's fatherly 
providence over us till we have found the inesti- 
mable treasure of a perfect conformity to his holy 
64 



"Christian Perfection 



will. I am certain, let us say, that nothing can hap- 
pen to me without his orders, and that neither men, 
nor devils, nor any other creature whatever can ef- 
feet anything contrary to his holy pleasure. I will, 
then, refuse nothing he sends, and I will desire 
nothing but the accomplishment of his will. 

Let us, then, make it our endeavor to become such 
by God's holy grace that we may receive with joy 
and satisfaction whatever misfortune happens; and 
find so great a satisfaction in whatever proceeds 
from the divine will as thereby to sweeten all the 
bitterness of this life, and make whatever is hard 
and difficult easy and delightful. We ought to shut 
ourselves up in the divine will as in a most secure 
retreat, and live there as a pearl in the shell, or as a 
bee in the hive, without ever coming forth. At first 
we may find the place very narrow, but afterward 
it will be larger; and without once coming forth we 
may walk there as in the habitations of the blessed. 

MEDITATION. 

Meditation is the beginning and ground of all 
good. It is the sister of spiritual reading, the nurse 
of prayer, and the director of good actions. It 
causes true devotion to spring up in our hearts. It 
is that which, next to the grace of God, most of all 
warms the heart and the will, and produces the 
prompt disposition to do virtuous deeds. So that 
true devotion and fervor of spirit consist not in a 

65 



Honey from Many Hives 

certain sensible sweetness which some experience in 
prayer, but in having our will always disposed and 
ready to execute what may in any way conduce to 
God's glory and service. Since we make use of 
meditation and reflection .to excite our will to act, 
and since this is our only aim and end. we must not 
entertain ourselves in meditation any longer than is 
necessary to move our will. 

No one becomes perfect on a sudden; it is by 
mounting, and not by flying, that we come to the 
top of the ladder. Let us, therefore, ascend, and 
let meditation and prayer be the two feet we make 
use of to do so. For meditation lets us see our 
wants, and prayer obtains for us relief from God. 
The one makes us discern the dangers that surround 
us; the other gives us happy escape from them. 
Prayer is tepid without meditation. 

OBSTINACY. 

Obstinacy, though it be in a matter of truth, can 
come from none but the devil. The reason is, be- 
cause that which usually moves a man to maintain 
his own opinion with any heat is the desire he has 
of being esteemed. Hence it happens that, to ap- 
pear more able or learned than his adversary, he 
endeavors to convince him that he is in an error; 
and if he cannot be victorious in his dispute he en- 
deavors at least to make it appear he had not the 
worst of it ; and thus it is always the demon of pride 

who is the occasion of this obstinacv. 
66 



"Christian Perfection " 

The spirit of contradiction is a very bad one; en- 
deavor, therefore, to cast it out, though the thing in 
question be of consequence. If anyone should con- 
tradict you insist not much upon it, nor suffer your- 
self to be carried on by a desire of getting the better 
of him ; but explain yourself once or twice with all 
possible mildness, and show him your idea of the 
question, and after that let him believe what he 
pleases ; and impose silence upon yourself as if you 
had nothing more to say about the matter. 

It is related of St. Thomas Aquinas that in his 
disputations he always proposed his opinion with 
meekness and sweetness, with an unspeakable mod- 
eration, without any show of presumption, and 
without the least offense to anyone ; but behaved as 
a man who regarded not gaining the victory, but 
merely endeavored to make known the truth. 

We read of Socrates that, dining one day with 
his friends, and happening in a large company to 
rebuke a little too sharply one of the guests, Plato, 
who was present, could not refrain from saying to 
him, "Would it not have been better for you to have 
deferred this rebuke to another time, and secretly to 
have told him of his fault?" "But would not you 
also," replied Socrates, "have done much better to 
have told me of mine in private?" 

JOY AND SADNESS. 

Sadness is a disease more dangerous and difficult 

to be cured than all other spiritual infirmities. Be- 

67 



Honey from Many Hives 

ware of admitting it into your soul, for if it once 
gets possession of you it will soon take away all 
your relish for prayer and spiritual reading. Sad- 
ness makes us severe and rude to our brethren. It 
renders a man impatient, suspicious, and intract- 
able; and sometimes it so troubles our mind that it 
even deprives us of our judgment. Sadness in the 
heart of a Christian is a subject of joy to the devil, 
because then it is easy to make him either despair 
or turn to the pleasures of the world. 

God desires to be served with joy. When we 
serve him thus we promote his honor and glory, be- 
cause we show that we do it with affection, and that 
all we do is nothing compared to what we would 
wish to do. God is not only more honored in this 
way, but our neighbor also is more edified, and the 
esteem of virtue more increased; for those who 
serve God with joy prove to worldlings that on the 
road of virtue there are not so many obstacles and 
difficulties as is imagined ; and as men naturally love 
joy they willingly travel the road in which they ex- 
pect to find it. 

The saints look upon cheerfulness as so great a 
good that they say we ought not to be discouraged 
or made sad even in our spiritual falls. Our sadness 
should at least be moderated by our hope of pardon 
and our confidence in God's mercy. Fathers behold 
the falls of their children rather with compassion 
than anger ; God does the same to us. 
68 



"Christian Perfection " 

There is a sadness which is according to God, and 
one which is not. The first is obedient, affable, 
humble, sweet, and patient, and since it proceeds 
from the love of God it preserves in us the fruit of 
the Holy Spirit. The other sorrow is rude, im- 
patient, and full of disquiet and bitterness; it hin- 
ders us from what is good, and produces discour- 
agement and despair. 

The sadness that is holy proceeds from a sight of 
our sins, or from a consideration of the many sins 
daily committed in the world, or from a great de- 
sire of perfection and the little progress we make 
toward it, or from a sacred impatience of visiting 
our celestial country. 

The joy of the servants of God is not a vain and 
frivolous one; it is not a joy that makes us break 
out into loud laughter, or to say witty things, or to 
join in conversation with everyone we meet. For 
this would be a dissipation of mind, immodesty, and 
irregularity. The joy we seek is a prudent one, that 
comes from within and is visible in our countenance 
without. We read of many saints who had such a 
joy and serenity in their looks that it gave testimony 
of the peace and satisfaction which they enjoyed 
in their hearts. And this is the joy which we should 
all possess. 

TEMPTATIONS. 

To encourage us in our temptations it will be a 
very great help if we consider the weakness of our 

69 



Honey from Many Hives 

enemy, and how little he is able to do against us; 
seeing that he cannot make us fall into any sin 
against our own will. 

Prayer is one of the principal means by which we 
resist temptation. As a man who lies at the foot of 
a tree and sees wild beasts coming toward him to 
devour him would presently climb to the top of it 
to save himself, so one who perceives himself beset 
with temptations ought to climb up to heaven and 
retire into the bosom of God by means of prayer, 
and thus he will be delivered. 

The general maxim to defend ourselves from any 
temptation is presently to have recourse to what is 
most contrary to it. We must cure those tempta- 
tions we are most subject unto by practicing what 
is contrary to them. For example, when we find 
ourselves carried away with vanity and pride we 
ought to exercise ourselves in servile works, and so 
on all other occasions steadfastly resist our bad in- 
clinations. 

Another excellent remedy is strongly to resist 
temptations in their beginning. Another is to be 
always employed. Do not dwell upon your tempta- 
tions. They are like little dogs that bark after a 
man that passes by ; if he stops to drive them away 
they bark more fiercely than they did before. We 
must therefore do like him who walks in a street 
where the wind blows the dust in his face ; he covers 
his eyes and walks on his way without troubling 
70 



'Christian Perfection *' 

himself either with the wind or the dust. When 
any bad thought occurs we must endeavor to turn 
our mind from it by applying it to something else; 
for example, by thinking on the death and passion 
of our Saviour, or some such object. However 
wicked and shameful the thoughts may be that arise 
within us, if, instead of entertaining them, we are 
troubled at having them, so far from believing that 
God has forsaken us we should consider it an in- 
fallible sign that he remains within us, because it 
is he alone who is able to give us this horror of sin 
and this fear of losing his grace. 

PERFECTION OF OUR ORDINARY ACTIONS. 

It is in performing well the most common and 
familiar actions of our life that our advancement 
and perfection consist. We shall become perfect if 
we perform these perfectly; we shall be imperfect 
if we perform them imperfectly. And this is all 
that properly makes the difference between a perfect 
and an imperfect Christian. For our perfection 
arises not from our doing more things than another 
does, but from our doing them better; and in pro- 
portion to the manner in which a man does these 
works will he become more or less perfect. 

The goodness of our actions consists of two 
things, of which the first and chief is, that we act 
purely for God. The intention is the foundation of 
the goodness of all our actions. The second is, 

7i 



Honey from Many Hives 

always to walk in God's presence. Thus shall we be 
always in prayer. They pray always who always 
perform their actions to please and glorify God; 
thereby they make their life a perpetual prayer. 

The third means of doing our actions well is, to 
do each one as if it were the only one we had to do. 
Another means is, to do each action as if it were to 
be the last we were to perform in this life. One of 
the best means to know certainly whether we walk 
upright before God is, to consider whether we are 
in a state to answer him at whatever time he calls, 
and in whatever employment we are engaged. 

Perform with exactness what belongs to your 
office and employment, and use all possible care and 
application in it, as doing all things for God and in 
his presence. Do not commit deliberately any fault, 
however small. Set great value on even the least 
things. And since our own spiritual advancement 
depends upon the due performance of our ordinary 
actions we must, from time to time, as soon as we 
perceive we begin to relax in any one, take care to 
make it the subject of our particular examination; 
and so renew by this means our fervor and attention. 

MORTIFICATION, OR SELF-DENIAL. 

Begin this exercise in profiting by those occa- 
sions of mortification which are daily offered you 
by your superiors, by your brethren, or in any other 
way. Receive all with a good will, and make your 
72 



"Christian Perfection '* 

profit of them ; seeing that they are the things neces- 
sary for your own peace, as well as for the edifica- 
tion of your neighbor. If we will profit by all the 
occasions of mortification that happen to us from 
our neighbors or brethren we shall meet with a suf- 
ficient number, and of all kinds. Some will mortify 
us intentionally, others through negligence but 
without a bad intention, while others will mortify us 
either from contempt or a want of due esteem for 
us. But if we consider those which God sends us 
directly, as sickness, temptations, disquiet of mind, 
the unequal distribution of his gifts, as well natural 
as supernatural, we shall find them to be numberless. 

As those who design to make themselves soldiers 
practice in time of peace military evolutions, which, 
though but mock fights, yet qualify them for real 
combats, even so the Christian must endeavor to 
mortify himself and renounce his will in small 
things which are lawful for him to do, that he may 
be the more ready to mortify himself in those which 
are forbidden. If we accustom ourselves to re- 
nounce our will in these small things, and. things 
that are indifferent, we shall the sooner be able to 
deprive ourselves in greater. 

Take care to do nothing, to think nothing, to 
speak nothing, purely to please your own will, or to 
satisfy your sensual appetite. - Before meals mortify 
in yourself the desire of eating; and eat not to 
satisfy your appetite, but to obey God, who will 

73 



Honey from Many Hives 

have you eat to nourish yourself. Before you go to 
study mortify your desire, and then study because 
God commands you to do so, and not because you 
find pleasure in it. Before you go into the pulpit to 
preach, or to explain any public lesson, mortify your 
own desire of doing it, and then preach or teach not 
because you like to do it, but because it is what you 
are commanded to do, and because it is God's will. 
Observe the same practice in all other things; and 
thus, depriving your actions of the attachments you 
have to them, perform them all purely for God's 
sake. 

To accustom ourselves, in all our actions, not to do 
our own will, but God's, and to take delight in them 
not because they are pleasant in themselves and be- 
cause our inclination moves us to perform them, but 
because in doing them we do the will of God — this 
is a point of great importance, and having in it a 
high degree of spirituality. He who performs his 
actions in this manner will at the same time accus- 
tom himself not only to mortify his own will, but 
also to do the will of God in all things, which is an 
exercise of the love of God most profitable and most 
perfect. We should at all times entertain a holy joy 
that the will of God is fulfilled in us. 

The progress of a Christian consists not in a 
happy disposition, in an agreeable exterior, in a 
sweet temper, but in our endeavors to overcome 
ourselves and in the victory we gain over our 
74 



"Christian Perfection " 

passions. This in an infallible test of anyone's ad- 
vancement in perfection; and therefore one who is 
naturally choleric does far more, and merits a 
greater recompense, when he overcomes his passion, 
than you who naturally are of a milder disposition, 
and who have nothing to resist or overcome. 
Neither the sweetness of your temper nor the nat- 
ural heat or impetuosity of another ought to make 
you esteem yourself the more or him less. On the 
contrary, you must make it an occasion of humbling 
yourself, acknowledging that what appears to be 
virtue in you is not so, but an effect of your natural 
temper, and that it is a great virtue in others to do 
the same things you perform. 

There are three degrees of mortification which 
are steps to raise us to the highest pitch of perfec- 
tion. The first is taught us by St. Peter : "Dearly 
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, 
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the 
soul" (i Pet. ii, 2). The second is far more sub- 
lime than the first, and is thus described by St. Paul : 
"Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in 
God" (Col. iii, 3). A man that is dead is equally 
indifferent to praise and censure, is unconcerned at 
any contempt or injury done him, no passion of 
pride or anger disturbs him, nothing troubles him. 
Tf, then, you still have eyes to pry into other people's 
actions ; if you are never at a loss for an answer to 
excuse yourself, and to do away the obligation of 

75 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



obedience; if you take it ill when you are reproved; 
and. lastly, if you feel proud and angry when you 
are neglected or despised,, be assured that you are 
so far from being dead to the world that you live 
and act by a worldly spirit. But there is a third 
degree of mortification. To die upon a cross is 
more than barely to die ; it is to die a death of the 
greatest infamy. To this degree St. Paul was raised 
when he said (Gal. vi, 14) : "The world is crucified 
unto me, and I unto the world." It is the same as 
if he had said, Pleasures, honors, riches,, the esteem 
and praise of men, and all that the world courts and 
adores,, is a sensible cross to me ; on the other hand, 
I love and embrace with the greatest delight all that 
the world looks upon as infamy and disgrace. To 
be insensible to affronts and disgrace is a small 
matter in his sight who rejoices and glories in them, 
and says with St. Paul, "God forbid that I should 
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,, 
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto 
the world. " 

RASH JUDGMENTS. 

The first root whence rash judgments commonly 
grow is pride, which, though it is the root of all 
other sins, yet is much more particularly so of this. 
Those who think themselves somewhat advanced in 
a spiritual life are more frequently tempted than 
others to judge and censure their neighbors, forget- 
ting their own defects. 
76 



"Christian Perfection " 

The saints say that simplicity is the daughter of 
humility; for he who is truly humble has not his 
eyes open to see the faults of his neighbor, but only 
to discern his own ; and finds so many things to con- 
sider and deplore in himself that he never casts his 
eyes or thoughts on the failings of others. If, there- 
fore, we w r ere truly humble we should be far from 
these kinds of judgments. The sight of our own 
defects gives us humility and contrition, augments 
the fear of God in the soul, keeps it in recollection, 
and produces in it the fruits of peace and tranquil- 
lity. On the contrary, the practice of observing the 
faults of others is the cause of many evils and incon- 
veniences; it carries along with it pride, rash judg- 
ments, indignation against our neighbor, contempt 
of our brethren, remorse of conscience, indiscreet 
zeal, and a thousand other imperfections which 
agitate and injure the heart. 

Though there is no sin in judging that an action 
is bad when it is evidently so, yet should that which 
we see be manifestly culpable it is still a virtue to 
endeavor, as far as in our power, to excuse our 
brother. Excuse the intention if you cannot excuse 
the action ; believe it proceeds from ignorance or 
surprise; that it is an effect of the first motion which 
he was not master of. If we loved our brethren as 
ourselves we should not want reasons to excuse 
them. Self-love always furnishes us with an infin- 
ity of excuses ; it puts arms in our hands to defend 

77 



Honey from Many Hives 

ourselves and teaches us how to lessen our own 
faults; and without doubt we should make use of 
the same means in behalf of our neighbor if we 
loved him as we love ourselves. 

When we have a passionate affection for anyone 
we approve of all his actions, and are so far from 
giving them any bad interpretation or taking them 
in ill part that, though we cannot but see his faults, 
yet we think of nothing else than how to palliate and 
diminish them as much as we are able. The same 
fault, accompanied with the same circumstances and 
appearances, seems not to be the same in him we 
love as it does in him we have no affection for. 

VAINGLORY. 

Vainglory is a sweet-scented powder, but it is 
entirely composed of arsenic. It corrupts and de- 
stroys all the merits of our actions after they are 
done, and makes us lose all the advantages we 
might expect from them. It waits till we have taken 
pains to perform many good works, and afterward 
it robs us of them. It is like a pirate that attacks 
not a vessel which is sailing out of port to purchase 
goods, but waits till it returns home richly freight- 
ed, and then fails not to attack it. Vainglory turns 
good into bad, virtue into vice, through the vanity 
of the miserable end we purpose to ourselves ; hence, 
instead of the recompense due to us, it causes us to 
merit nothing but punishments. It is a tempest in 
78 



"Christian Perfection " 

the harbor. It does to the most perfect Christian 
what a man does who, going on board a ship well 
provisioned and richly laden with merchandise, 
bores a hole in the bottom of it through which the 
water enters and at length sinks it. 

The first remedy against vainglory is to consider 
with attention that the good opinion of men is but 
mere wind and smoke, because it neither gives nor 
takes anything from us, whether good or bad; 
neither makes us better nor worse. A second 
remedy is to take very great care never to use any 
expression in praise of ourselves. Never say any- 
thing of yourself that may redound to your praise, 
though the person you speak to should be one of 
your most familiar friends. If it seems necessary 
for the instruction of others to say something of 
edification that has happened to yourself relate it as 
of a third person. 

We must go yet further, and even conceal as 
much as we can the good actions we perform. It is 
after this manner that travelers hide their money 
with a great deal of care, lest they should be robbed 
of it. Some have compared those who perform 
their good works through a spirit of pride to hens 
who make a cackling after they have laid an egg, 
whereby they cause it to be discovered and lose it in 
consequence. The true servant of God esteems the 
good he does as nothing; and what he cannot hide 
from the eyes of men he believes he has already 
6 79 



Honey from Many Hives 

received a kind of reward for, if he adds not other 
good works which cannot come to their knowledge. 
Do not, therefore, aspire to the esteem of men, for 
fear that God should make that to be the extent of 
all the recompense of those good actions you were 
able to perform. 

It is for the same reason the saints counsel us to 
avoid all sorts of singularity in devotion, because 
singular and unusual actions are most remarked and 
most spoken of. And he who does what others do 
not draws the eyes of all the world upon him; 
whence arises the spirit of pride and vainglory 
which makes us look upon others with contempt. 

But because we cannot always hide our good ac- 
tions, since some are obliged to contribute by their 
example to the edification of their neighbor, the first 
means of defense against vainglory is to rectify in 
the beginning our intention, and to elevate our heart 
to God, and offer him all our thoughts, words, and 
actions, to the end that when vainglory comes to 
claim a part in them we may say to it, You come 
too late ; all is already given to God. 

We read of a father in the desert who used to 
pause a little before performing any action. One 
day being asked why he did so, "I believe," said he, 
"that all our actions have no merit of themselves, 
if they be not done for a good end. Wherefore, as 
he who fires at a target takes his aim for some time 
in order to cover the object, even so, before I per- 
80 



"Christian Perfection " 

form what I purpose, I direct my intention to God, 
who ought to be the only object or end of all our 
actions; and it is upon this account that I always 
pause a little at the commencement of every action." 

PRAYER. 

We must not confine ourselves to prayer as the 
end in which we are to repose ; it is only the means 
we make use of to advance ourselves in perfection. 

Let each one consider for some time before he 
begins his prayer, and let him ask himself : "What 
is the greatest spiritual infirmity I have ? What is 
the obstacle that most opposes itself to my progress 
in virtue?" Do not go to prayer, like a hunter that 
shoots at random, with a vague design of profiting 
by what may be presented to your mind. Take to 
heart for some time some one thing in particular; 
that which you find yourself most in need of. We 
must chiefly insist upon this and beg it of God with 
fervor several times, several days, nay, even several 
months, making this our chief business, having it 
continually before our eyes, till we come at last to 
obtain it. "One thing I have asked of the Lord," 
says the psalmist; "this will I seek after." It is of 
great importance to dwell upon one thing till the 
soul is well filled and penetrated with it. 

It was the practice of a very great saint that when 
her heart was silent she neglected not to speak with 
her lips, because she thus renewed and enlivened 

81 



Honey from Many Hives 

the fervor of her heart, and she also confessed that 
sometimes, for want of making vocal prayer, when 
she found herself sleepy, she also omitted her men- 
tal prayer. This is but too often experienced; 
tepidity and drowsiness to which we give way in 
time of prayer are the causes why our lips are silent ; 
but if we forced ourselves to speak we should over- 
come these impediments, and should animate our- 
selves with new fervor. 

Our praying well, and consequently our acting 
well, during the whole day depends much on our 
seizing the first moments of the morning, as soon 
as we wake, to preoccupy them with good thoughts. 
We must be extremely vigilant, in order that, as 
soon as our eyes are open, our imagination may be 
filled with the thought of God, and our memory and 
heart receive a similar impression before any 
strange thought is able to make its entrance. 

Another profitable advice is to write down very 
briefly the fruit we have reaped from prayer; the 
good thoughts we have had, the pious resolutions 
we have made, and the lights we have received from 
God in it. By this means the good desires and 
resolutions we make are more perfected and take 
deeper root, and make a stronger impression on our 
heart; and experience also will teach us that when 
at another time we come to read them over again 
they will be of great profit to us. 
82 



"Christian Perfection 



HOW TO BE HUMBLE. 

Humility is the source, foundation, and root of 
all virtues, as pride is the beginning of all sin. All 
virtues which are not founded upon humility are 
virtues only in appearance. 

Root out of your heart pride, and plant humility 
in its place. As soon as you shall be truly humble 
you will be obedient, you will be patient, you will 
complain of nothing, you will think nothing hard; 
and though anything should happen to you very 
difficult to be borne with, yet it will always seem 
to you very little in comparison with what you de- 
serve. As soon also as you shall be humble you will 
be charitable toward your brethren, because you will 
believe them all to be good, and better than your- 
self; you will have a great simplicity of heart, and 
you will judge ill of- nobody, because you will have 
so great a sorrow and confusion for your own. de- 
fects that you will not think at all upon those of 
your neighbor. The love of God is very much in- 
creased by means of humility : for one of a humble 
spirit, seeing that he receives whatever he has from 
the hand of God, and that he is very far from merit- 
ing it, feels himself excited to love his benefactor 
more and more. The humble man is not angry at 
others being preferred to him; he is willing that 
they should be esteemed and himself despised. 
There is no envy among the humble. If you seek 
a ready way to acquire all virtues, and a short lesson 

83 



Honey from Many Hives 

for attaining perfection, you have it in two words : 
be humble. 

Humility consists not in words, nor in outward 
conduct, but in the sentiments of the heart; in hav- 
ing a low and mean opinion of ourselves, founded 
on the deep sense we have of our own nothingness. 
It is a virtue by which a man, from a true knowledge 
of himself, becomes vile in his own eyes. It is need- 
ful that before all things you should know yourself 
thoroughly, and after that esteem yourself accord- 
ing to what you are. You will be humble enough 
as soon as you know yourself; for then you will 
plainly see how little you are. According to some, 
one of the reasons why God loves humility is be- 
cause he loves the truth above all things. Humility 
is truth itself, whereas pride is a mere deceit and 
a lie; for you are not in reality what you think 
you are, nor what you would have others think 
you to be. 

But, lest we be overmuch cast down at the sight 
of our imperfections, we should, for our encourage- 
ment, immediately pass on to the consideration of 
God's goodness. Yet there is danger in dwelling 
too much upon this latter. Our exercise ought to 
be like Jacob's ladder, of which one end touched the 
earth and the other reached up to heaven. It is by 
it you are to ascend and descend, as the angels did. 
Ascend till you arrive at the knowledge of the good- 
ness of God; but rest not there, for fear of falling 
84 



"Christian Perfection " 

into presumption. Go down again forthwith to the 
knowledge of thyself ; and rest not there either, for 
fear of being faint-hearted, but return up again to 
the knowledge of God, to place all your confidence 
in him. In fine, all you have to do is to go continu- 
ally up and down this ladder. These are the two 
lessons which God gives every day to his elect — one 
to consider their own faults, and the other to con- 
sider the goodness of God, who, with so much 
bounty and affection, pardons them. 

Gerson makes an ingenious application of the 
fable of Antaeus to the subject we speak of. The 
poets feign that Antaeus was a giant and son of the 
earth, who, having been thrice thrown to the ground 
while he wrestled with Hercules, regained addi- 
tional strength every time he touched the earth. 
Hercules, perceiving this, raised him up from thence, 
and squeezed him to death in his arms. This is a 
figure of what the devil does when he fights with us ; 
he endeavors to lift us up very high by means of the 
esteem and praise of men, that so he may the more 
easily overcome us. Hence whoever is truly hum- 
ble continually lies low in the knowledge of himself, 
and is afraid of nothing more than of being exalted. 

Humility has been compared to a river which has 
a great deal of water in winter and scarce any at 
all in summer; for humility usually decreases in 
prosperity and increases in adversity. 

Moral virtues are not to be acquired, any more 

85 



Honey from Many Hives 

than arts and sciences, but by exercise and practice. 
To be a good artist, a good musician, a good orator, 
or a good philosopher, you must exercise yourself 
in the actions proper to each of these professions; 
so, to acquire humility, and other moral virtues, you 
must practice the arts belonging to them. It is true 
that all virtue must come from the hand of God; 
but it is true also that the same God. without whom 
we can do nothing, will have us also to cooperate 
with him. Humiliation is the way to humility, as 
patience is to peace of mind, and study to learning; 
if we will acquire humility we must put ourselves 
into the way of humility. 

Many teachers of the spiritual life counsel us to 
take great heed lest we say anything which may 
turn to our own praise, which may make us pass 
for men of profound knowledge or eminent virtue. 
It is very hard for you to have any good quality that 
others will not perceive: if you take no notice of it 
yourself you will be the better loved for it and de- 
serve a double praise ; as well for being master of so 
good a quality as for being willing to conceal it. 
But if you make a show of it you will be laughed at. 
It is highly dangerous to take pleasure in hearing 
people praise and speak well of us. "When we are 
praised we ought to cast our eyes upon our sins. 
Let us also be particular to take pleasure in hearing 
others praised. Whenever the good which you hear 
of your neighbor excites envy in you, or what you 
86 



"Christian Perfection " 

hear said of yourself causes self-satisfaction, be sure 
to look upon it as a fault. Do nothing to be seen 
and esteemed by men. Do not excuse yourself 
when in fault, for it is pride that makes us, as soon 
as we have committed one, or as soon as we are re- 
proved for it, stand upon our defense. Prevent the 
imagination from indulging too freely in proud 
thoughts. Look on yourself as inferior to others, 
and prefer them to yourself. 

Ought we to wish to be contemned? and, if we 
are, how shall we be able to bring forth fruit for the 
good of souls ? For to make an impression by what 
we say, and to gain credit with an audience, we 
must be in esteem with them ; so that on this account 
it seems even necessary to desire the esteem of men. 
The answer given by the fathers is that, though the 
great danger we incur by the honor and esteem of 
men ought to oblige us to avoid it, and though when 
we regard only ourselves we ought to wish to be 
despised, yet we may, nevertheless, with a view to 
God's greater glory, seek their approbation and es- 
teem. It happens sometimes that good people re- 
joice at the good opinion which others have of them, 
but that is when they believe that thereby they can 
do more good to their souls ; and then they do not so 
much rejoice at the esteem for themselves as at the 
benefit of their neighbor. For there is a great dif- 
ference between seeking the applause of men and 
rejoicing at the salvation of souls. It is one thing 

87 



Honey from Many Hives 

to love the esteem of the world for its own sake, and 
to regard nothing but one's own satisfaction and 
the pleasure of glory, which is always wrong; and 
another thing to seek this esteem from a good mo- 
tive, such as the advantage and salvation of your 
neighbor, which is very commendable. It is there- 
fore permitted to desire the esteem of men, pro- 
vided it be for the greater glory of God and their 
edification; for this is not to love one's own reputa- 
tion. When one rejoices at the esteem of man it 
must be with such a regard only to God that at the 
very same moment that this esteem serves no fur- 
ther for God's glory and the salvation of our neigh- 
bor it ought rather to be a pain than a joy to us. 
For those who are thus disposed there is no fear 
when they accept any honor, or even speak to their 
own advantage, for they never do it but when they 
judge it necessary for the glory of God; and so the 
honor and praise which they receive leave no im- 
pression of vanity upon their heart. 

That which makes the largest degree of humility 
so difficult to attain is that, on the one hand, we 
must use all imaginable care and diligence to acquire 
virtue, to resist temptations, and to be successful in 
all our pious undertakings, as if our own strength 
were sufficient to insure success; and, on the other 
hand, after having done all that depended on us, 
we are to confide no more in it than as if we had 
done nothing; we must look upon ourselves as un- 
88 



"Christian Perfection " 

profitable servants, and put our confidence in God 
alone. 

There appears to be a conflict between humility 
and magnanimity; for magnanimity is a greatness 
of courage which urges us to undertake grand and 
glorious things, yet nothing seems more contrary to 
humility. The undertaking of great things seems 
wholly repugnant to humility, because this virtue 
demands that we acknowledge ourselves unworthy 
of everything and good for nothing; and it is pre- 
sumptuous to attempt what we are not capable of 
performing. Also to attempt things which entitle 
us to honor seems acting still further against hu- 
mility, because he who is truly humble ought to be 
far from so much as thinking how to attain honor. 
But the conflict is rather in seeming than in reality. 
For the attempting great things belongs properly 
to none but to him who is truly humble. To attempt 
great things in our own strength would indeed be 
presumption. But it is only upon diffidence in our- 
selves and confidence in God that Christian mag- 
nanimity lays the foundation of great enterprises; 
and humility does the same. There is nothing that 
we cannot do with the help of God. So with regard 
to honor. The magnanimous man desires only to 
deserve the glory without caring to possess it. He 
has raised himself so high above the opinion of the 
world that he finds nothing estimable but virtue; 
and, looking with the same eye upon the praise and 

89 



Honey from Many Hives 

scorn of men, he does nothing for the love of the 
one or for fear of the other. 

As a man who has borrowed a great sum feels 
his joy for having the money alloyed by the obliga- 
tion to restore it, and by the anxiety he is in as to 
whether he shall be able to pay it at the time ap- 
pointed, so he who is humble, the more gifts he 
receives from God the more he acknowledges him- 
self a debtor and under a stricter obligation to serve 
him; and, thinking that his gratitude and services 
do not answer, as they ought, the greatness of the 
favors and benefits he has received, he believes at the 
same time that anyone but himself would have made 
a better use of them. It is this which makes the 
servants of God more humble than others ; for they 
know that God will call them to account not only 
for the sins they commit, but also for the benefits 
they receive. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of 
him shall be much required" (Luke xii, 48). 

But why is God so pleased to exalt the humble, 
and to confer upon them so many favors ? It is be- 
cause all the good he does them returns to himself. 
For they who are humble appropriate to themselves 
nothing of what they receive; they restore it all to 
God, and, acknowledging that there is nothing 
great but the power of God alone, ascribe to him 
the glory and honor of all. 
90 



Francis of Sales 



FRANCIS OF SALES. 

It is very difficult to write briefly concerning so 
wonderful and lovable a man as Francis of Sales, 
both on account of his admirable traits and also on 
account of the abundant materials which have come 
down to us. There is an excellent life of him by 
Robert Ornsby, M.A., and a large volume of mem- 
orabilia entitled The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, 
by his intimate friend, Bishop Camus, which is 
worthy to rank with Bos well's Johnson. Certain it 
is that few men have seemed so nearly perfect. It 
has been well said: "All things that command re- 
spect and attract love were found in Francis — high 
rank, polish of manners, geniality of disposition, 
shrewdness of head, vivacity of imagination, a ca- 
pacity for profound theological studies, a rare felic- 
ity in the use of language, a captivating grace of 
manner, an almost unrivaled power as a director of 
souls, activity without bustle, mortification without 
sadness. There appears in his mind that union of 
sweetness and strength, of masculine power and 
feminine delicacy, of profound knowledge and 
practical dexterity, which constituted a character 
formed at once to win and subdue minds of almost 
every type and age/' 

He was born the oldest son of one of the principal 
nobles of Savoy, in the town of Sales, 1567. At the 

9 1 



Honey from Many Hives 

age of thirty-five he became bishop of Geneva, but 
his residence was at Annecy. After twenty years 
full of holy labors in this capacity he departed to 
glory, 1622. 

In the year 1608 he issued the work by which he 
is best known, The Introduction to a Devout Life, 
It was drawn up chiefly from letters which he had 
written to one who was under his instruction, and 
which were so much admired in manuscript as to 
make their publication a necessity. The book im- 
mediately obtained a vast circulation throughout 
Europe, and its popularity has not waned down to 
the present day. Dr. E. M. Goulburn, himself one 
of the best spiritual writers of our own time, says: 
"There is no manual of devotion so winning, so at- 
tractive, and of such universal applicability as this. 
In profusion of imagery he is a very Jeremy Taylor. 
A man must be either the victim of inveterate sec- 
tarian prejudice or a stickler for the most vulgar 
theological commonplaces, or — much worse than 
either — dead to spiritual emotion, who can read 
Francis's treatise without a drawing of the heart 
toward its author, a longing after the devout life 
which he recommends, and a desire to act upon his 
instructions for leading it." 

In 1616 he brought to completion what is in some 
respects his greatest work, the most profound, elab- 
orate, and exhaustive, 'A Treatise on the Love of 
God. It is a mine of rich and beautiful thoughts, 
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but not perhaps so generally useful to the ordinary 
reader as the Introduction. 

Another volume from which we have made ex- 
tracts in the following pages is entitled Practical 
Piety, and is composed of selections from Francis's 
letters and discourses. It is an admirable manual 
of devotion, treating very wisely of our duties to- 
ward God, toward our neighbor, and toward our- 
selves, as well as of the principal exercises of piety 
and the principal feasts of the year. 

While he was emphatically the apostle of sweet- 
ness and gentleness, he had a dignity and gravity 
before which people stood in awe, and he had a 
burning hatred of sin as well as an ardent love for 
God. He did all things "passing well/' but without 
vehemence, combining with intensity of devotion 
great calmness of spirit. He was hostile to any- 
thing like haste or flurry, overeagerness or anxiety. 
His favorite word was pedetentim, "by degrees," 
"step by step/' "soon enough if well enough/' not 
an inch in advance of God's will. He paid special 
attention to doing kindnesses for individuals, even 
the humblest, and if anyone treated him harshly he 
took particular pains to do him a favor. His pas- 
sage from earth to heaven, though attended with in- 
tense pain, was most edifying. Exhortations to 
those around him to love God more were frequent. 
As some one gave expression to the thought of how 
necessary to the people his longer tarrying seemed 

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to be, he replied, "A useless servant, useless, use- 
less." The name of Jesus was the last word on his 
lips. His end was peace, and his works have cer- 
tainly followed him. The few of his words here 
given are no better, perhaps, than much more which 
might be quoted, but they will afford a taste of his 
distinctive teaching. 



THE MORNING EXERCISE. 

I. Adore God most profoundly, and return him 
thanks for having preserved you from the dangers 
of the night ; and if during the course of it you have 
committed any sin, implore his pardon. 2. Con- 
sider that the present day is given you in order that 
you may gain the future day of eternity; make a 
firm purpose, therefore, to employ it well with this 
intention. 3. Foresee in what business or conversa- 
tion you will probably be engaged ; what opportuni- 
ties you will have to serve God; to what temptations 
of offending him you will be exposed, either by 
anger, by vanity, or any other irregularity ; and pre- 
pare yourself by a firm resolution to make the best 
use of those means which shall be offered you to 
serve God and advance in devotion ; as also, on the 
other hand, dispose yourself carefully to avoid, re- 
sist, and overcome whatever may present itself that 
is prejudicial to your salvation and the glory of 
God. 4. This done, humble yourself in the presence 
of God, acknowledging that of yourself you are in- 
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capable of executing your resolutions either to avoid 
evil or to do good; and, as if you held your heart in 
your hands, offer it, together with all your good 
designs, to his divine Majesty, beseeching him to 
take it under his protection, and so to strengthen it 
that it may proceed prosperously in his service. 

THE EVENING EXERCISE. 

Prostrate yourself before God, and recollect your- 
self in the presence of Jesus Christ crucified. Give 
thanks to God for having preserved you during the 
day past. Examine how you have behaved your- 
self throughout the whole course of it; and to do 
this more easily consider where you have been, with 
whom, and in what business you have been em- 
ployed. If you find that you have done any good, 
thank God for it. If, on the other hand, you have 
done any evil, whether in thought, word, or deed, 
ask pardon of his divine Majesty, firmly resolving 
to confess it at the first opportunity, and to avoid 
it for the future. Recommend to the protection of 
divine Providence your soul and body, the holy 
Church, together with your parents and friends; 
and finally beg the Lord to watch over you. Thus, 
with the blessing of God, you may go to take that 
rest which his will has appointed for you. 

TEMPTATION. 

There are three steps to ascend to iniquity : temp- 
tation, delectation, and consent. Though the temp- 
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tation to any sin whatsoever should last during life, 
it could never render us disagreeable to the divine 
Majesty provided that we were not pleased with it, 
and did not give our consent to it. The reason is, 
because we do not act, but suffer in temptation; and 
as in this we take no pleasure, so we cannot incur 
any guilt. It is not always in the power of the soul 
not to feel the temptation, though it be always in 
her power not to consent to it; it cannot hurt us so 
long as it is disagreeable to us. But with respect 
to the delectation which may follow the temptation 
it must be observed that, as there are two parts in 
the soul, the inferior and the superior, and the in- 
ferior does not always follow the superior, but acts 
for itself apart, it frequently happens that the infe- 
rior part takes delight in the temptation without the 
consent, nay. against the will, of the superior. This 
is that warfare which the apostle describes (Gal. v, 
17) when he says that the flesh lusts against the 
Spirit, and that there is a law of the members and a 
law of the Spirit. 

Therefore, whenever you are tempted to any sin, 
consider whether you have not voluntarily given 
occasion to the temptation ; for then the temptation 
itself puts you in a state of sin, on account of the 
danger to which you have exposed yourself. When 
the delectation which follows temptation might have 
been avoided, and yet was not. there is always some 
kind of sin, more or less considerable, according to 
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the time you have dwelt upon it or the pleasure you 
have taken in it. 

As soon as you perceive yourself tempted follow 
the example of children when they see a wolf or a 
bear in the country; for they immediately run into 
the arms of their father or mother, or at least they 
call out to them for help. Look not the temptation 
in the face, but look only on our Lord; for if you 
look at the temptation, especially while it is strong, 
it may shake your courage. Divert your thoughts 
to some good and pious reflections, for when good 
thoughts occupy your heart they will drive away 
every temptation and suggestion. 

It is a very good sign that the enemy keeps knock- 
ing and storming at the gate, for it shows that he 
has not what he wants. If he had he would not 
make any more noise, but enter in and quietly 
remain there. 

FASTING. 

We are greatly exposed to temptations, both 
when our body is too much pampered and when it 
is too much weakened, for the one makes it insolent 
w T ith ease, and the other desperate with affliction. 

Labor, as well as fasting, serves to mortify and 
subdue the flesh, Now, provided the labor you un- 
dertake contributes to the glory of God and your 
own welfare, I would prefer that you should suffer 
the pain of labor rather than that of fasting. Some 
find it painful to fast, others to serve the sick or 

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visit prisoners, others to hear confession, to preach, 
to pray, and to perform similar exercises. These 
last pains are of more value than the former, for 
besides subduing the body they produce fruits much 
more desirable, and therefore, generally speaking, 
it is better to preserve our bodily strength more than 
may be necessary, in order to perform these func- 
tions, than to weaken it too much; for we may 
always abate it when we wish, but we cannot always 
repair it when we would. 

In indifference respecting our food consists the 
perfection of the practice of that sacred rule, "Eat 
that which is set before you." I except, however, 
such meats as may prejudice the health or incom- 
mode the spirit, such as hot and high-seasoned 
meats ; as also certain occasions in which nature re- 
quires recreation and assistance in order to be able 
to support some labor for the glory of God. A con- 
tinual and moderate sobriety is preferable to vio- 
lent abstinences practiced occasionally and mingled 
with great relaxations. 

I think it a point of virtue to retire to rest early 
in the evening, that we may be enabled to awake and 
rise early in the morning, which is certainly, of all 
times, the most favorable, the most agreeable, and 
the least exposed to disturbance and distractions; 
when the very birds invite us to awake and praise 
God ; so that early rising is equally serviceable to 
health and holiness. 
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CONVERSATION. 

Let your language be meek, open, and sincere, 
without the least mixture of equivocations, artifice, 
or dissimulation ; for although it may not be always 
advisable to say all that is true, yet it is never allow- 
able to speak against the truth. 

No artifice is so good and desirable as plain deal- 
ing, Worldly prudence and artifice belong to the 
children of the world; but the children of God walk 
uprightly, and their heart is without guile. Lying, 
double-dealing, and dissimulation are always signs 
of a weak and mean spirit. 

In order to avoid contention do not contradict 
anyone in discourse, unless it be either sinful or very 
prejudicial to agree with him. But should it be 
necessary to contradict anyone, or oppose our own 
opinion to his, we must do it with much mildness 
and dexterity, so as not to irritate his temper; for 
nothing is ever gained by harshness and violence. 

To speak little, a practice so much recommended 
by all wise men, does not consist in uttering few 
words, but in uttering none that are unprofitable; 
for in point of speaking one is not to regard the 
quantity so much as the quality of the words. But, 
in my opinion, we ought to avoid both extremes. 
For to be too reserved, and refuse to join in con- 
versation, looks like disdain or a want of confidence; 
and, on the other hand, to be always talking, so as 
to afford neither leisure nor opportunity to others 

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to speak when they wish, is a mark of shallowness 
and levity. 

EVIL SPEAKIXG. 

Rash judgment engenders uneasiness, contempt 
of our neighbor, pride, self-complacency, and many 
other most pernicious effects, among which detrac- 
tion, the bane of conversation, holds the first place. 
Detraction is a kind of murder; for we have three 
lives, namely, the spiritual, which consists in the 
grace of God ; the corporal, which depends on the 
soul ; and the civil,, which consists in our good name. 
Sin deprives us of the first, death takes away the 
second, and detraction robs us of the third. But 
the detractor by one blow of his tongue commits 
three murders : he kills not only his own soul and 
the soul of him that hears him, but also, by a spirit- 
ual murder, takes away the civil life of the person 
detracted. For, as St. Bernard says, both he that 
detracts and he that hearkens to the detractor have 
the devil about them, the one in his tongue and the 
other in his ear. As the serpent's tongue is forked 
and has two points, so is that of the detractor, who 
at one stroke stings and poisons the ear of the 
hearer and the reputation of him against whom he is 
speaking. 

One act alone is not sufficient to constitute a vice. 
To acquire the name of a vice or a virtue the action 
must be habitual ; one must have made some prog- 
ress in it. It is then an injustice to say that such 

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a man is passionate, or a thief, because we have seen 
him once in a passion or guilty of stealing. Also, 
since the goodness of God is so immense that one 
moment suffices to obtain and receive his grace, 
what assurance can we have that he who was yester- 
day a sinner is not a saint to-day? We can then 
never say a man is wicked without exposing our- 
selves to the danger of lying. All that we can say, 
if we must speak, is that he did such bad actions, or 
lived ill at such a time, that he does ill at present; 
but we must never draw consequences from yester- 
day to this day, nor from this day to yesterday, 
much less to to-morrow. 

Some, to avoid the sin of detraction, commend 
and speak well of vice. We must avoid this ex- 
treme. We must openly blame that which is blama- 
ble; for in doing this we glorify God, provided we 
observe the following conditions. To speak com- 
mendably against the vices of another it is necessary 
that we should have in view the profit either of the 
person spoken of or of those to whom we speak. It 
is, moreover, requisite that it should be my duty to 
speak on this occasion, as when I am one of the chief 
of the company ; for if I should keep silence I would 
seem to approve of the vice ; but if I be one of the 
least I must not take upon me to pass my censure. 
But above all it is necessary that I should be so 
cautious in my remarks as not to say a single word 
too much. My tongue, whilst I am speaking of my 

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neighbor, shall be in my mouth like a knife in the 
hand of a surgeon, who would cut between the sin- 
ews and the tendons. The blow I shall give shall 
be neither more nor less than the truth. In fine, it 
must be our principal care in blaming any vice to 
spare as much as possible the person in whom it is 
found. 

When you hear anyone spoken ill of make the 
accusation doubtful if you can do it justly; if you 
cannot, excuse the intention of the party accused; 
if that cannot be done, express a compassion for him 
and change the topic of conversation, remembering 
yourself, and putting the company in mind, that 
they who do not fall owe their happiness to God 
alone ; recall the detractor to himself with meekness, 
and declare some good action of the party offended, 
if you know any. 

QUIETNESS OF SPIRIT. 

We ought above all things to secure our tran- 
quillity, not only because it is the mother of con- 
tentment, but chiefly because it is the daughter of 
the will of God and of the resignation of our own 
will. 

We shall soon be in eternity, and then we shall 
see w T hat a little matter are all the affairs of the 
world, and of how small consequence it was whether 
they were done or not done. Nevertheless we now 
make ourselves anxious, as though they were great 

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things. When we were little children with what 
earnestness did we gather bits of tiles, wood, and 
clay, to build little houses with, and when anyone 
destroyed them we were greatly distressed at it, and 
wept ; but now we know right well that all that was 
of little consequence. We shall do the same in 
heaven one day, when we shall see that our interests 
in the world were all mere childishness. Let us pur- 
sue our childish occupations, since we are children, 
but let us not catch cold about them; and if anyone 
throw r s down our little houses and designs let us not 
be overdistressed ; for when night comes — I mean 
death — and we must return to our homes, our little 
houses will all be useless. We must return to our 
Father's house. 

It is a truth that nothing can give us a deeper 
tranquillity in this world than frequently to look 
upon our Lord in all the afflictions w T hich came upon 
him from his birth until his death. For we shall 
there see so much scorn, calumny, poverty, need, 
abjection, pains, torments, injuries, and all sorts of 
bitterness, that, in comparison with it we find out 
that we w r ere wrong in calling by the name of afflic- 
tion, pain, and contradiction those little accidents 
which happen to us, and in desiring patience for 
such a trifling matter, since one little drop of 
modesty should amply suffice to support that which 
happens to us. 

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humbee-mindedness. 

"Borrow empty vessels not a few," said Elisha to 
the poor widow, "and pour oil into them." To re- 
ceive the grace of God into our hearts they must be 
emptied of vainglory. We call that glory vain 
which we assume to ourselves either for what is not 
in us or for what is in us, and belongs to us, but 
deserves not that we should glory in it. 

Generous minds do not amuse themselves about 
the petty toys of rank, honor, and salutation; they 
have other things to perform; such baubles only 
belong to degenerate spirits. He that may have 
pearls never loads himself with shells; and such as 
aspire to virtue trouble not themselves about honors. 
Everyone, indeed, may take and keep his own place 
without prejudice to humility, so that it be done 
carelessly and without contention. For as they that 
come from Peru, besides gold and silver, bring also 
thence apes and parrots, because they neither cost 
much nor are burdensome, so they that aspire to 
virtue refuse not the rank and honor due to them, 
provided it cost them not too much care and atten- 
tion, nor involve them in trouble, anxiety, disputes, 
or contentions. Nevertheless I do not here allude 
to those whose dignity concerns the public, nor to 
certain particular occasions of important conse- 
quences; for in these everyone ought to keep what 
belongs to him with prudence and discretion, 
accompanied by charity and suavity of manners. 
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I would neither pretend to be a fool nor a wise 
man ; for if humility forbids me to conceal my wis- 
dom, candor and sincerity also forbid me to counter- 
feit the fool ; and as vanity is opposite to humility, 
so artifice, affectation, and dissimulation are con- 
trary to sincerity. 

The best abjections, those most profitable to our 
souls and most acceptable to God, are such as befall 
us by accident or by our condition of life; because 
we have not chosen them ourselves but received 
them as sent by God, whose choice is always better 
than our own. 

Humility not enduring that we should have any 
opinion of our own excellence, or think ourselves 
worthy to be preferred before others, cannot permit 
that we should seek after praise, honor, and glory, 
which are only due to excellence; yet she consents 
to the counsel of the wise man who admonishes us 
to be careful of our good name, because a good 
name is our esteem, not of an excellence, but only 
of an ordinary honesty and integrity of life, which 
humility does not forbid us either to acknowledge 
in ourselves or to desire the reputation of it. It is 
one of the foundations of human society, without 
which we are not only unprofitable but prejudicial 
to the public by reason of the scandal it would re- 
ceive. Charity requires and humility consents that 
we should desire it and carefully preserve it. 

The obligation of preserving our reputation, and 

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of being actually such as we are thought to be, urges 
a generous spirit forward with a strong and agree- 
able impulse, An excessive fear of losing our good 
name betrays a great distrust of its foundation, 
which is the truth of a good life. He that is too 
anxious to preserve his reputation loses it; and 
that person deserves to lose honor who seeks to 
receive it from those whose vices render them truly 
infamous and dishonorable. 

That humility which does not produce generosity 
is undoubtedly false. For after humility has said, 
I can do nothing, I am nothing, it immediately gives 
place to generosity, which says, There is nothing 
which I cannot do, inasmuch as I put all my con- 
fidence in God, who can do everything. And with 
this confidence humility, consequently, undertakes 
everything which it is ordered to do, how difficult 
soever. And if it applies itself to fulfill the com- 
mandment in simplicity of heart, God will rather 
work a miracle than fail of giving it his aid; because 
it is not from any confidence in its own strength 
that humility undertakes the work, but from the 
confidence which it has in God. 

Behold the example which we ought to follow 
when we are ordered to do anything. We ought to 
undertake it generously, without reckoning on our- 
selves, but reckoning much on the grace of God, 
who wills that we should obey without making any 
resistance. But I well understand the subtlety of 
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false humility; it is that we fear we shall not come 
forth with honor to ourselves. We value our repu- 
tation so highly that in the exercise of our office 
we do not like to be reckoned as apprentices, but as 
masters who never commit any blunders at all. 

It is a good practice of humility never to look 
upon the actions of our neighbors except to remark 
the virtues that are in them, never their imperfec- 
tions; for so long as we are not in charge of them 
we must never turn our eyes, and still less our 
attention, on that side. 

We must always put the best construction that we 
can upon what we see our neighbor do. In doubtful 
matters we ought to persuade ourselves that what 
we noticed is not bad, but that it is our imperfec- 
tions that cause such a thought to arise in our 
minds ; that thus we may avoid rash judgments, a 
very dangerous evil, for which we ought to have 
a sovereign detestation. 

To acquire the spirit of humility there is no other 
way but frequent repetition of its acts. Humility 
makes us annihilate ourselves in all those things 
which are not necessary for our advancement in 
grace, such as good speaking, noble mien, great 
talents for the management of affairs, a great spirit 
of eloquence, and the like; for in these exterior 
things we ought to desire that others should succeed 
better than ourselves. 

Love your abjection, That is, remain humble, 

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tranquil, sweet, full of confidence in the midst of 
this obscurity; do not make yourself impatient, or 
trouble yourself for all this, but with a good heart 
- — I do not say gayly, but I do say freely and 
firmly — embrace this cross, and remain under these 
clouds. Love to be obscure, for the love of Him 
who wishes you to be so, and you will love your own 
abjection. 

HOLY INDIFFERENCE. 

It is difficult to give an exact definition of the holy 
indifference of a will dead to itself and totally ab- 
sorbed in the will of God. According to my idea 
of a perfectly indifferent soul, which desires noth- 
ing, and permits the Almighty to will whatever he 
pleases, it should be defined as a will in a state of 
simple and general expectation, disposed for all 
events. Yet, though the expectation of the soul is a 
simple disposition to receive whatever may occur, 
not an action, it is still perfectly voluntary. After 
these events have happened expectation is changed 
into consent or acquiescence. Before they occur it 
is simple expectation; that is, a disposition of the 
soul by which she is prepared for everything, and 
perfectly indifferent as to whatever it may please 
the divine will to ordain. 

To exercise persons in this holy indifference God 
sometimes inspires them with very exalted designs, 
which are not meant to succeed. Their duty on 
these occasions is, on the one side, to commence with 
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a noble courage and simple confidence, and to per- 
severe with constancy, as long as a hope of success 
remains; and, on the other hand, tranquilly and 
humbly to accept whatever degree of success God is 
pleased to give their exertions. Happy are the souls 
in whom God discovers this perfect readiness to 
abandon, by his desire, the enterprises which they 
have generously and courageously undertaken in 
obedience to his commands. Nothing more clearly 
proves perfect indifference than to abandon the 
execution of a good design when God pleases that it 
should succeed no further. It was God who urged 
us onward and served as a guide ; we advanced with 
ardor for his glory, and at the first intimation of his 
will we unhesitatingly retraced our steps. 

The absolute will of God is usually known only by 
the event which is its effect. Before this takes place 
we should unite ourselves to the divine will which 
is called signified; and when this adorable will is 
made manifest in after occurrences we should im- 
mediately attach ourselves thereto by amorous sub- 
mission. Let us suppose that I, or some one very 
dear to me, have been attacked by serious illness; 
does God will that the malady should or should not 
be followed by death? This I do not, and cannot, 
discover. But I know by his signified will that he 
requires me, while waiting for the event which he 
has ordained, to employ the remedies necessary for 
my recovery. I shall then use them, and omit noth- 

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ing calculated to remove my illness. But if it be the 
will of God that the remedies prove ineffectual, and 
the sickness terminate in death, as soon as I shall 
have discovered this to be the will of God the 
superior part of my soul will cheerfully submit, not- 
withstanding the repugnances of the inferior part. 

Everything which occurs in the universe, except 
sin, happens by the will of God, which is called ab- 
solute or of good pleasure; no one can prevent its 
accomplishment, and it is known by the effects it 
produces. When events occur we judge unhesita- 
tingly that God has willed and regulated them. 

But, you will object, when an enterprise inspired 
by God fails, through the fault of the person to 
whom it has been committed, how can he then ac- 
quiesce in the divine will, knowing that it is not the 
will of God which has prevented success, since it is 
not, and cannot be, the cause of the fault which has 
impeded the happy termination of the enterprise? 
Your fault certainly does not proceed from the will 
of God, because God cannot be the author of sin; 
yet it is his will that your fault be punished by the 
failure of the undertaking. As he is infinitely good 
he cannot will sin which offends him; but as his jus- 
tice is no less infinite than his goodness he wills the 
punishment which is the consequence of your fault. 

Thus should we act : our will should be as easily 
molded by the will of God as soft wax is shaped by 
the hand ; we should not amuse ourselves in forming 
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desires and projects; we should have no views or 
pretensions, but leave the disposal of everything be- 
longing to us in the hands of God. Let us bless and 
thank God on all occasions, saying, I do not wish 
for anything, O my God; I do not even desire to 
know what may befall me ; the power of willing and 
choosing belongs to thee; I reserve to myself only 
that of blessing thee for whatever thou hast or- 
dained. How excellent a use do we make of our 
liberty when, suppressing all desires and natural 
solicitude, we are solely occupied in praising the 
divine will, which regulates all things, and blessing 
its ever-equitable decrees. 

The brilliancy of the stars is not obscured when 
the sun enlightens our horizon, but it is concealed 
from us by the light of the sun, and seems to be 
engulfed in that immense ocean of splendor in 
which it is lost. In like manner the human will is 
not destroyed when it abandons itself totally to that 
of God; but it is so absorbed in the divine will that 
it cannot be distinguished from it having in reality 
no effect, no desire, no will, but the will of God. 

When a servant who follows his master is asked 
where he goes he might reply that he does not go, 
he only follows ; because it is his master's will, and 
not his, which determines the place to which he 
walks. The will when totally abandoned to that of 
God desires nothing according to its own choice ; it 
simply follows the selection made by the Almighty. 
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Honey from Many Hives 

To sail is not to proceed by our own motion, but by 
that of the vessel in which we have embarked. The 
human mind may be said to embark when it aban- 
dons itself to the will of God, allowing itself to be 
conducted by this adorable will, to receive its mo- 
tion and not to move itself. It is like an infant at 
the breast, which, being unable to dispose of itself, 
has no will except to love its mother ; on whichever 
side it is placed it is satisfied, provided it be in the 
arms of her whom it loves and with whom it seems 
to constitute but one object. As it is not aware of 
having a will it does not make any exertion to unite 
it to its mother's, but it abandons itself to her care 
and allows her to will wdiatever she pleases in its 
regard. Souls thus united to God have reached the 
highest degree of perfection which can be attained 
in this life. 

WHEN IS LOVE TO GOD MOST PERFECT? 

A heart inflamed with divine love adores and 
loves the will of God, not only in the consolations 
it imparts, but also in the afflictions it is pleased to 
send; it even loves it more ardently in crosses and 
trials than in consolations, because the peculiar ef- 
fect of a strong and generous love is to suffer for 
the object of predilection. 

To love the will of God in the consolations it 
sends us is a real and sincere love, provided it be 
indeed the will of God we love in his consolations, 

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and not the consolations in his divine will. This is, 
however, a species of love which has no efforts to 
make, no contradictions or repugnances to sur- 
mount. For who would not love so amiable a will 
under circumstances so gratifying to nature? To 
love the will of God in its commandments, in its 
counsels and inspirations, is a second degree of love, 
much more perfect than the first; because it leads 
us to renounce our own will and to deprive ourselves 
of many pleasures, though it does not forbid them. 
To love the will of God in sufferings and afflictions 
is the third and sovereign degree of charity. Un- 
der these circumstances we can discover nothing 
amiable but the divine will itself; we experience 
great natural repugnance, and not only renounce 
pleasure, but even embrace sufferings and pains. 
Divine love is always fearful when it seeks the will 
of God amid consolation; because it is easy, under 
these circumstances, to love our own happiness 
rather than the divine will. But we practice the 
highest perfection of love when we not only receive 
afflictions with patience and resignation, but even 
cherish and delight in them on account of the will 
of God from which they proceed. 

If I only wish for clear water it is of little con- 
sequence w T hether it be brought in a vase of gold or 
of glass. I should even receive it with more pleas- 
ure when presented in a glass, because I can then 
see it more clearly than in a golden cup. In like 

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manner, if I seek only the will of God I should be 
indifferent whether it be presented to me in tribula- 
tion or consolation, provided I can clearly discern 
it. It should even be more agreeable in suffering, 
because it is then more visible ; and the only amiabil- 
ity of tribulation is that which it borrows from the 
divine will 

To comprise all in a few words, the divine will 
is the sovereign object and ruling attraction of a 
soul influenced by holy indifference. Wherever she 
can discover the divine will she eagerly unites her- 
self thereto; and amidst several objects, all marked 
with the seal of God's adorable will, that in which 
this will is most evidently manifested always re- 
ceives her preference, whatever motives may incline 
her to the contrary. The divine will sweetly con- 
ducts the indifferent soul as it pleases. 

The love of our relatives, benefactors, and friends 
is in itself verv conformable to the will of God ; but 
it ceases to be so when it becomes excessive. Souls 
which are inordinately attached to the objects which 
God wills they should love may certainly be said to 
love God above all things ; yet they do not love him 
in all things, since their affection for many objects 
is founded on other motives in which God has no 
share, though they are not opposed to his divine 
will. 

That soul is the most cherished by her heavenly 
spouse, and the most ardent among his sacred 
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Francis of Sales 

lovers, who not only loves God above all things and 
in all things, but who loves God alone in all things ; 
who, to speak more correctly, amidst many things 
which are the objects of her affection loves but one, 
which is God. A certain proof that we love God 
alone in all things is when we love him equally 
under all circumstances; because, God being always 
the same immutable Being, the inequality of our 
love for him can only proceed from a particular 
motive produced by the consideration of some object 
which is not God. 

LITTLE THINGS. 

We have not always an opportunity of doing 
great things; but we can hourly perform insignifi- 
cant actions with an ardent love. To conform to 
the different characters of the persons with whom 
we associate; to bear their disagreeable and unpol- 
ished manners, which annoy and revolt, conse- 
quently to gain frequent victories over our passions 
and inclinations; to contradict our natural aver- 
sions; to conquer our antipathies; to acknowledge 
our faults, and to receive with humility the confusion 
resulting from them; to correct the natural varia- 
bilities of temper and be continually on our guard 
against the obstacles which oppose the peace of our 
souls; to love abjection, arid joyfully to receive the 
contempt and censure incurred by our manner of 
life, conduct, and actions — all this, when embraced 

"5 



Honey from Many Hives 

through love and animated by holy dilection, con- 
tributes more than we are aware to our spiritual 
advancement. 

The most trivial actions are performed with great 
merit when accompanied w T ith purity of intention 
and an ardent desire to please God. Some devout 
persons perform many good works without advan- 
cing much in charity, because they do everything 
tepidly, and act more from natural inclination than 
by the inspiration and emotion of grace. Others, 
on the contrary, to judge by the exterior of their 
actions, do very little for God; but this little is ac- 
companied with so much purity of intention that 
their progress in holy dilection is rapid. 

SEEK PERFECTION SENSIBLY. 

You perhaps think that perfection is to be found 
ready-made, and that you only require to put it on, 
as you would put on a garment; but it is not so; it 
is necessary to make it yourself, and to clothe your- 
self with it. 

You seem to think that perfection is an art, and 
that if one could find out the secret of it one would 
have it without any trouble. Certainly we deceive 
ourselves; for there is no other nor greater secret 
than to do and to labor faithfully in the exercise of 
divine love if we wish to unite ourselves unto the 
beloved. 

Take care to make yourself daily more pure in 
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Francis of Sales 

heart; this purity consists in weighing everything 
in the balance of the sanctuary, which is nothing 
else than the will of God. 

Know that it is the virtue of patience that insures 
us the most perfection ; and if we must have it with 
others we must also have it with ourselves. Those 
who aspire to the pure love of God have not so 
much need of patience with others as with them- 
selves. 

Keep your eyes lifted up unto God. Augment 
your courage in holy humility; fortify it in sweet- 
ness ; confirm it in evenness. Make your spirit per- 
petually the master of your inclinations and humors. 
Never allow apprehensions to enter into your heart. 
Each day will give you the knowledge of what you 
shall best do the next. 

As much as you can, do perfectly that which you 
do; but when it is done do not think any more about 
it; think of what is to be done next. Walk very 
simply with the cross of our Lord, and do not tor- 
ment your mind. We ought to hate our defects ; but 
with a tranquil and peaceful hatred, not with a 
troubled and distempered hatred. And, further, we 
ought to have patience when we see them, and de- 
rive from them the profit of a holy abasement of 
ourselves. We must be charitable with our soul and 
not devour it when we see that it does not err with 
its full consent, Do not lose courage, have patience, 
wait, exercise yourself strongly in the spirit of com- 

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Honey prom Many Hives 

passion ; I do not doubt but that God will hold you 
with his hand. 

It appears to me that our faults universally pro- 
ceed from no other cause but this, namely, that we 
forget the maxim of the saints who have warned us 
that we ought every day to consider that we are 
commencing anew our advancement in our perfec- 
tion. The work is never finished; it must always be 
recommenced, and recommenced with a good heart. 
What we have done up to the present time is good, 
but what we are about to begin shall be better ; and 
when we shall have finished we will recommence 
something else which shall be still better; and then 
again something else, until we go out of this world 
to commence another life, which shall have no end 
because nothing better can happen to us. 

Do not then examine so carefully whether you 
are in perfection or not; here are two reasons why 
you should not. One is that it is to no purpose our 
examining ourselves in this way, since, were we the 
most perfect souls in the world, we ought never to 
know or be aware of it, but to esteem ourselves 
always as imperfect. The other reason is that this 
examen, when it is made with anxiety and perplex- 
ity, is only a loss of time ; and those who make it are 
like musicians who make themselves hoarse with 
practicing a motet; for the mind wearies itself with 
an examen so great and so continual, and when the 
time of execution arrives it can do no more. 
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Francis of Sales 

Simplify your judgment; do not make so many 
reflections and replies, but go on simply and with 
confidence; for you there is nothing else in the 
world but God and yourself. You have nothing to 
do with aught else, except so far as God commands 
it and in the way in which he commands it to you. 
Avoid minutely examining what other people do, 
or what will become of them ; look on them with an 
eye simple, good, sweet, and affectionate. Do not 
require in them more perfection than in yourself, 
and do not be astonished at the diversity of imper- 
fections; for imperfection is not greater imperfec- 
tion merely because it is unusual. Behave like the 
bees — suck the honey from all flowers and all herbs. 
Go on joyously, and with open heart, as much as 
you can; and if you do not always go on joyously, 
at least go on always courageously and confidently. 

VIRTUE TESTED. 

When people say to me, Look at such a sister, in 
whom one sees no imperfection, I immediately ask, 
Does she hold any office? If they say not, then I 
make no great account of her perfection. For there 
is a great difference between the virtue of this sister 
and that of another who shall be well tried, whether 
interiorly by temptations, or exteriorly by contra- 
dictions ; for the virtue of strength and the strength 
of virtue are not ordinarily acquired so perfectly in 
time of peace as they are whilst we are tried by 

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Honey from Many Hives 

temptation of its contrary. There is a great deal of 
difference between the absence of a vice and the 
presence of the opposite virtue. Many appear to be 
highly endowed with virtue who, nevertheless, are 
not so, because they have not acquired it by labor. 
We ought always to remain humble, and not to sup- 
pose that we have the virtues merely because we do 
not commit, or at least do not know that we com- 
mit, the faults opposed to them. 

It is a maxim of marvelous efficacy, "Let God 
put me in what service he wills, 'tis all one to me, 
provided that I serve him !" But take care to chew 
it well over and over in your mind ; make it melt in 
your mouth, and do not swallow it whole. St. 
Teresa says somewhere that we very often say such 
words from habit, and a certain slight idea of them, 
and we fancy that they are spoken from the deep of 
our heart, although it was nothing of the sort, as we 
afterward discover by our practice. 

THE FEVER OF SELF-WILL. 

We like to serve God according to our own will, 
and not according to his. God commands me to 
save souls, and I wish to remain in contemplation; 
the contemplative life is good, but not to the preju- 
dice of obedience. It is not for us to choose accord- 
ing to our will ; we must will what God wills ; and if 
God wills that I should serve him in one capacity I 
must not will to serve him in another. 
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Francis of Sales 

There is no vocation which has not its annoy- 
ances, bitternesses, and vexations; and much more, 
if we except those who are fully resigned to the will 
of God, each person would willingly change his con- 
dition for that of others. Whence comes this gen- 
eral disquietude of minds unless from a certain 
dislike which we all have to constraint? But it is 
all one. Whoever is not fully resigned, he may turn 
to this side or to that, he will never find repose. 
Those who have a fever find no place to their mind. 
They have not remained a quarter of an hour in one 
place when they would be in another. It is not the 
bed that causes their restlessness, but the fever 
which torments them everywhere. A person who 
has not the fever of self-will is contented every- 
where provided that God is served. Such a one 
does not trouble himself about what capacity God 
employs him in; provided that he does his divine 
will it is to him all one. 

Often reflect that all we do derives its true value 
from the conformity which we have to the will of 
God; so that in eating and drinking, if I do it be- 
cause it is the will of God that I do it, I am more 
pleasing to God than if I suffered death without that 
intention. 

LOVE OF OUR OW r N OPINION. 

Everyone has opinions of his own. What we 
must avoid is attaching ourselves to them and lov- 
ing them ; because that attachment and that love are 



Honey from Many Hives 



very contrary to perfection. The love of our own 
judgment, and the value which we set on it, is the 
cause wdiy there are so few perfect souls. When we 
are required, either by charity or obedience, to give 
our advice on a subject that is under discussion, we 
must do it simply, making ourselves, for the rest, 
indifferent whether it is received or not. The mat- 
ter being decided, we must say no more about it, 
especially with those who were of our way of think- 
ing; for that would be to nourish this defect, and to 
show that we have not completely submitted to the 
advice of the others, and that we always prefer our 
own. We must not even think about it any more, 
unless the resolution taken is remarkably faulty ; for 
in that case if any means could still be found to pre- 
vent its execution, or to apply a remedy to it, we 
ought to adopt such means in the most charitable 
and quiet way we can, so as not to trouble anyone, 
or to bring into contempt what they thought good. 
The love of our own opinion is the last thing that 
we part with; and nevertheless it is one of the 
most necessary to part with for the acquisition of 
true perfection; for otherwise we do not acquire 
holy humility, which forbids us from making any 
account of ourselves or of anything that depends 
upon us. 

There are souls who will not, as they say, be led 
except by the Spirit of God. And they fancy that 
all the things they imagine are so many inspirations 

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Francis of Sales 

and movements of the Holy Ghost, who takes them 
by the hand and conducts them like children in all 
that they would do. In this they greatly deceive 
themselves. For is there any vocation more marvel- 
ous than that of St. Paul, in which our Lord him- 
self spoke to him in order to convert him? and 
nevertheless he would not instruct him, but sent him 
to Ananias to learn whatever he had to do. And 
although St. Paul might have said, "Lord, where- 
fore not thyself ?" he did not say so, but went in all 
simplicity to do what was commanded him. After 
this, shall we think ourselves more favored of God 
than St. Paul, and believe that he wills to conduct us 
himself without the instrumentality of any creature? 

SWEETNESS OF TEMPER. 

Let us be very sweet and humble in heart toward 
all, but above all toward our own. Let us not agi- 
tate ourselves; let us go on with all sweetness, 
bearing with one another. Let us take good care 
that our heart does not escape us. 

Generous devotion does not wish to have com- 
panions in everything it does, but only in its aim, 
which is the glory of God and the advancement of 
our neighbor in divine love. And provided that it 
goes straight to that end it does not trouble itself by 
what road. Provided that he who fasts fasts for 
God, and that he who fasts not also for God fasts 
not, it is as content with the one as with the other. 

Generous devotion does not wish to attract others 

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Honey from Many Hives 



to its own mode of life,, but it follows its own path 
simply, humbly, tranquilly. If this point be well 
understood and well observed it will preserve in 
souls a marvelous tranquillity of mind and a great 
sweetness of heart. Let Martha be active, but let 
her not control Mary. Let Mary be contemplative, 
but let her not despise Martha. For our Lord will 
take up the defense of her who is censured. 

Blessed are the pliable hearts, for they will never 
break. The effects of true liberty are a great sweet- 
ness of spirit, a great gentleness and readiness to 
yield wherever there is not sin or danger of sin. It 
creates a disposition sweetly pliable in the action of 
all virtue and charity. For example, a soul that has 
attached itself to the exercise of meditation; inter- 
rupt it, and you will see it lay aside that exercise 
with some expression of annoyance, disturbed and 
put out. A soul which has true liberty will lay aside 
its meditation with an even countenance and a heart 
graciously disposed toward the troublesome person 
who may have caused it inconvenience. For to such 
a soul it is all one whether it serves God by medita- 
ting or serves him by bearing with its neighbor. 
Both the one and the other are the will of God ; but 
to bear with its neighbor is necessary at that par- 
ticular moment. The occasions of this liberty are 
all things which occur contrary to our inclination; 
for whoever has not his inclinations fixed is not 
disquieted when they meet with opposition, 
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Francis of Sales 



patience. 

Limit not your patience to this or that kind of 
injuries and afflictions, but extend it universally to 
all those that it shall please God to send you. He 
that is truly patient suffers indifferently tribulations 
whether accompanied by ignominy or honor. To 
be despised, reprehended, or accused by wicked men 
is pleasant to a man of good heart; but to suffer 
blame and ill treatment from the virtuous, or from 
our friends and relations, is the test of true patience. 
The evils we suffer from good men are much more 
insupportable than those we suffer from others ; and 
yet it often happens that two good men, having each 
of them the best intentions, through a diversity of 
opinion foment great persecutions and contradic- 
tions against each other. 

We must not only bear sickness with patience, 
but also be content to suffer sickness under any dis- 
order and in any place, amongst those persons and 
with those inconveniences which God pleases; and 
the same must be said of other tribulations. When 
any evil befalls you apply the remedies that may be 
in your power agreeably to the will of God ; for to 
act otherwise would be to tempt divine Providence. 
Having done this, wait with resignation for the 
success it may please God to send; and should the 
remedies overcome the evil, return him thanks with 
humility ; but if, on the contrary, the evils overcome 
the remedies, bless him with patience. 

I2 5 



Honey from Many Hives 

Whenever you are justly accused of a fault hum- 
ble yourself, and candidly confess that you deserve 
more than the accusation which is brought against 
you; but if the charge be false excuse yourself 
meekly, denying your guilt ; for you owe this respect 
to truth and to the edification of your neighbor. But 
if, after your true and lawful excuse, they should 
continue to accuse you, trouble not yourself, nor 
strive to have your excuse admitted; for, having 
discharged your duty to truth, you must also do the 
same to humility, by which means you neither of- 
fend against the care you ought to have of your 
reputation nor the love you owe to peace, meekness 
of heart, and humility. 

Complain as little as possible of the wrongs you 
suffer; for, commonly speaking, he that complains 
sins, because self-love magnifies the injuries we 
suffer and makes us believe them greater than they 
really are. The truly patient man neither complains 
himself nor desires to be pitied by others. He 
speaks of his sufferings with truth and sincerity, 
without murmuring, complaining, or aggravating 
the matter. He patiently receives condolence, un- 
less he is pitied for an evil which he does not suffer; 
for then he modestly declares that he does not suffer 
on that account; and thus he continues peaceable 
betwixt truth and patience, acknowledging but not 
complaining of the evil. 
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Francis of Sales 



GOOD THOUGHTS FROM EVERYTHING. 

One may extract good thoughts and holy aspira- 
tions from everything that presents itself amidst 
the variety of this mortal life. A devout soul stand- 
ing over a brook on a very clear night, and seeing 
the heavens and stars therein represented, ex- 
claimed, "O my God, these very stars which I now 
behold shall be one day beneath my feet, when thou 
shalt have lodged me in thy celestial tabernacles; 
and as the stars of heaven are here represented, even 
so are the men of this earth represented in the living 
fountain of divine charity." Another, seeing a 
river flowing swiftly along, cried out, "My soul 
shall never be at rest till she be swallowed up in the 
sea of the divinity, her original source." Another, 
contemplating a pleasant brook, upon the bank of 
which she was kneeling at her prayers, being rapt 
into an ecstasy, often repeated these words, "The 
grace of my God flows thus gently and sweetly, like 
this little stream." Another, looking on the trees in 
bloom, sighed and said, "Ah, why am I alone with- 
out blossoms in the garden of the Church!" 
Another, seeing little chickens gathered together 
under the hen, said, "Preserve us, O Lord, continu- 
ally under the shadow of thy wings." Another, 
looking upon the flower called heliotropium, which 
turns to the sun, said, "When shall the time come, 
O my God, that my soul shall faithfully follow the 
attractions of thy goodness?" And seeing the 
9 127 



Honey from Many Hives 

flowers called pansies, which are beautiful but 
without fragrance, "Ah!" said he, "such are my 
conceptions; fair in appearance, but of no effect, 
producing nothing." 

As the great work of devotion consists in the 
exercise of spiritual recollection and ejaculatory 
prayers, the want of all other prayers may be sup- 
plied by them ; but the loss of these can scarcely be 
repaired by any other means. Without them we 
cannot lead a good, active life, much less a contem- 
plative one. Without them repose would be but 
idleness, and labor vexation. Wherefore I conjure 
you to embrace this; exercise your whole heart, 
without ever desisting from its practice. 
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"Holy Living and Dying" 



"HOLY LIVING AND DYING," 

The Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., Bishop 
of Down, Connor, and Dromore, who wrote the 
book named above, took an active part in stirring 
times. Born at Cambridge, England, in 1613, he 
entered college there in 1626, received holy orders 
in 1633, was ma de bishop in 1661, and died in 1667. 
Being an ardent royalist, he espoused the cause of 
King Charles in his struggle with the Parliament; 
hence, during the supremacy of the latter and the 
protectorate of Cromwell, he suffered considerable 
persecution, and was several times imprisoned. At 
the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 he properly 
came in for his share of the favors distributed. 

He was an eloquent preacher and a very saintly 
man, presenting, it has been said, "as fine a pattern 
of a Christian bishop as the annals of the Church of 
England afford." Nature did much for him, and 
grace still more. His manners were gentle, his hu- 
mility was deep, his charity boundless, while he had 
an acute and vigorous mind, as well as extensive 
learning and much practical w r isdom. He has been 
called "the Homer of divines," "the Shakespeare of 
the Church," and "the Spenser of English theolog- 
ical literature." It is through his writings that he 
chiefly lives. Many of his printed sermons show 
great powers of thought, as well as an exuberant 

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Honey from Many Hives 

imagination. He composed numerous books, promi- 
nent among which are The Liberty of Prophesying, 
in which he nobly advocates the widest principles of 
toleration; The Great Exemplar of Sanctity, a popu- 
lar life of Christ; and Ductor Dubitantium (or The 
Rule of Conscience) , a large work in two volumes, 
on which he founded his brightest hopes of renown 
and usefulness. These hopes, however, were dis- 
appointed. He is mainly known to-day by his Holy 
Living and Dying, published originally (in 1650 
and 165 1 ) as two separate productions, The Ride 
and Exercise of Holy Living, and The Rule and 
Exercise of Holy Dying. It passed through nine- 
teen editions within a little more than fifty years 
after publication, and is by far the most noted 
manual of devotion produced in the Church of 
England. 

The learned and pious author, in his dedication 
or preface, says that he has been led "to draw into 
one body those advices which the several necessities 
of many men must use at some time or other, and 
many of them daily; that by a collection of holy 
precepts they might less feel the want of personal 
and attending guides, and that the rules for conduct 
of souls might be committed to a book which they 
might always have; since they could not always have 
a prophet at their needs, nor be suffered to go up to 
the house of the Lord to inquire of the appointed 
oracles." Such a design was most worthy, and it 
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"Holy Living and Dying 99 

was most admirably carried out, with excellent re- 
sults. John Wesley was greatly indebted to this 
book, as well as to a Kempis, perusing both at about 
the same time. After reading Taylor on purity of 
intention he says, "Instantly I resolved to dedicate 
all my life to God, all my thoughts, words, and af- 
fections, being thoroughly convinced there was no 
medium, but that every part of my life, not some 
only, must either be a sacrifice to God or myself, that 
is, in effect, to the devil." 

A considerable part of the thick volume (515 
i2mo pages) is occupied with prayers. A long sec- 
tion in the "Holy Dying" comprises counsels to the 
"clergy-guides" for ministering to the sick, another 
section analyzes the decalogue "for the assistance of 
sick men in making their confessions to God and his 
ministers." In short, as in all such ancient books, 
it is only a small portion that can be set down as of 
perpetual value, adapted to all ages and lands. We 
do not, of course, in this chapter give the whole even 
of this small portion, but we do furnish, we think, 
the choicest of the thoughts. If they shall be seized 
upon by the reader with as vigorous an apprehension 
and as practical a purpose as John Wesley exercised, 
they will be sufficient to transform his life. There 
are very few guides to holy living better than good 
Jeremy Taylor. 

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Honey from Many Hives 

purity of intention. 

This grace is so excellent that it sanctifies the 
most common actions of our life; and yet so neces- 
sary that, without it, the very best actions of our 
devotion are imperfect and vicious. For, as to know 
the end distinguishes a man from a beast, so to 
choose a good end distinguishes him from an evil 
man. The praise is not in the thing done, but in 
the manner of its doing. If a man visits -his sick 
friend, and watches at his pillow for charity's sake 
and because of his old affection, we approve it ; but 
if he does it in hope of a legacy he is a vulture, and 
only watches for the carcass. The same things are 
honest and dishonest; the manner of doing them, 
the end of the design, makes the separation. 

Holy intention is to the actions of a man that 
which the soul is to the body, or form to its matter, 
or the root to the tree, or the sun to the world, or 
the fountain to a river, or the base to a pillar; for 
without these the body is a dead trunk, the matter 
is sluggish, the tree is a block, the world is darkness, 
the river is quickly dry, the pillar rushes into flatness 
and a ruin ; and the action is sinful, or unprofitable 
and vain. 

In every action reflect upon the end ; and in your 
undertaking it consider why you do it, and what you 
propound to yourself for a reward. 

Let every action of concernment be begun with 
prayer, that God would not only bless the action but 
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"Holy Living and Dying " 



sanctify your purpose ; and make an oblation of the 
action to God. 

It is likely our hearts are pure and our intentions 
spotless when we are not solicitous of the opinion 
and censures of men, but only that what we do be 
our duty and accepted of God. For our eyes will 
certainly be fixed there from whence we expect our 
reward; and if we desire that God should approve 
us it is a sign we do his work, and expect him our 
paymaster. 

He that does as well in private, between God and 
his own soul, as in public, in pulpits, in theaters, and 
market places, hath given himself a good testimony 
that his purposes are full of honesty, nobleness, and 
integrity. But he that would have his virtue pub- 
lished studies not virtue but glory. He is not just 
that will not be just without praise; but he is a 
righteous man that does justice when to do so is 
made infamous; and he is a wise man who is de- 
lighted with an ill name that is well gotten. And 
indeed that man hath a strange covetousness, or 
folly, that is not contented with this reward, that 
he hath pleased God. 

It is well, also, when we are not solicitous or 
troubled concerning the effect and event of all our 
actions ; but that being first by prayer recommended 
to Him is left at his dispose. For then, in case the 
event be not answerable to our desires, or to the 
efficacy of the instrument, w r e have nothing left to 

i33 



Honey from Many Hives 

rest in but the honesty of our purposes ; which it is 
the more likely we have secured by how much more 
we are indifferent concerning the success. If thou 
beest much troubled that thy labors prove unpros- 
perous, it is certain thou didst not think thyself 
secure of a reward for thine intention; which thou 
mightest have done if it had been pure and just. 

He loves virtue for God's sake and its own that 
loves and honors it wherever it is to be seen. But he 
that is envious or angry at a virtue that is not his 
own, at the perfection or excellency of his neighbor, 
is not covetous of the virtue, but of its reward and 
reputation ; and then his intentions are polluted. It 
was a great ingenuity in Moses that wished all the 
people might be prophets; but if he had designed 
his own honor he would have prophesied alone. But 
he that desires only that the work of God and re- 
ligion shall go on is pleased with it, whosoever is the 
instrument. 

He that despises the world, and all its appendant 
vanities, is the best judge, and the most secured of 
his intentions, because he is the furthest removed 
from a temptation. Every degree of mortification 
is a testimony of the purity of our purposes ; and in 
what degree we despise sensual pleasure, or secular 
honors, or worldly reputation, in the same degree 
we shall conclude our heart right to religion and 
spiritual designs. 

When we are not solicitous concerning the instru- 
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"Holy Living and Dying " 



ments and means of our actions, but use those means 
which God hath laid before us with resignation, in- 
differency, and thankfulness, it is a good sign that 
we are rather intent upon the end of God's glory 
than our own conveniency or temporal satisfaction. 

CARE OF OUR TIME. 

He that is choice of his time will also be choice 
of his company and choice of his actions, lest the 
first engage him in vanity and loss, and the latter, by 
being criminal, be a throwing of his time and him- 
self away, and a going back in the accounts of 
eternity. 

God hath given every man work enough to do, 
that there shall be no room for idleness; and yet 
hath so ordered the world that there shall be space 
for devotion. He that hath the fewest businesses 
of the world is called upon to spend more time in the 
dressing of his soul, and he that hath the most af- 
fairs may so order them that they shall be a service 
of God ; whilst at certain periods they are blest with 
prayers and actions of religion, and all day long are 
hallowed by a holy intention. So that no man can 
complain that his calling takes him off from re- 
ligion; his calling itself, and his very worldly em- 
ployment in honest trade and offices, is a serving of 
God ; and if it be moderately pursued, and according 
to the rules of Christian prudence, will leave void 
spaces enough for prayers and retirements of a more 
spiritual religion. 

i3S 



Honey from Many Hives 

In the morning, when you awake, accustom your- 
self to think first upon God, or something in order 
to his service; and at night also let him close thine 
eyes. And let your sleep be necessary and health- 
ful, not idle and expensive of time beyond the needs 
and conveniences of nature; and sometimes be cu- 
rious to see the preparation which the sun makes 
when he is coming forth from his chambers of the 
east. 

Never talk with any man, or undertake any tri- 
fling employment, merely to pass the time away ; for 
every day well spent may become a "day of salva- 
tion/' and time rightly employed is an "acceptable 
time." 

In the midst of the works of thy calling often 
retire to God in short prayers and ejaculations; and 
those may make up the want of those larger portions 
of time which, it may be, thou desirest for devotion, 
and in which thou thinkest other persons have ad- 
vantage of thee. 

Let not your recreations be lavish spenders of 
your time; but choose such w 7 hich are healthful, 
short, transient, recreative, and apt to refresh you. 
But at no hand dwell upon them, or make them your 
great employment; for he that spends his time in 
sports and calls it recreation is like him whose gar- 
ment is all made of fringes, and his meat nothing 
but sauces; they are healthless, chargeable, and 
useless. 
136 



"Holy Living and Dying" 

Set apart some portions of every day for more 
solemn devotion and religious employment, which 
be severe in observing. And if variety of employ- 
ment, or prudent affairs, or civil society, press upon 
you, yet so order thy rule that the necessary parts 
of it be not omitted. 

When the clock strikes, or however else you shall 
measure the day, it is good to say a short ejaculation 
every hour, that the parts and returns of devotion 
may be the measure of your time. And do so also 
in all the breaches of thy sleep; that those spaces 
which have in them no direct business of the world 
may be filled with religion. 

We shall be much assisted if, before we sleep, 
every night we examine the actions of the past day 
with a particular scrutiny, if there have been any 
accident extraordinary; as long discourse, a feast, 
much business, variety of company. If nothing but 
common hath happened, the less examination will 
suffice. 

Let all these things be done prudently and moder- 
ately, not with scruple and vexation. For these are 
good advantages, but the particulars are not divine 
commandments, and therefore are to be used as 
shall be found expedient to everyone's condition. 
For provided that our duty be secured, for the de- 
grees and for the instruments every man is per- 
mitted to himself and the conduct of such who shall 
be appointed to him. 

i37 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD. 

If men would always actually consider and really 
esteem this truth, that God is the great eye of the 
world, always watching over our actions, and an 
ever-open ear to all our words, and an unwearied 
arm ever lifted up to crush a sinner into ruin, it 
would be the readiest way in the world to make sin 
to cease from amongst the children of men, and for 
men to approach to the blessed estate of the saints 
in heaven, who cannot sin, for they always walk in 
the presence and behold the face of God. If you will 
sin, go where God cannot see, for nowhere else can 
you be safe. 

Let everything you see represent to your spirit 
the presence, the excellency, and the power of God. 
And let your conversation with the creatures lead 
you unto the Creator. For so shall your actions be 
done more frequently with an actual eye to God's 
presence by your often seeing him in the glass of the 
creation. In the face of the sun you may see God's 
beauty; in the fire you may feel his heat warming: 
in the water, his gentleness to refresh you; he it is 
that comforts your spirits when you have taken 
cordials. 

In your retirement make frequent colloquies, or 
short discoursings, between God and thine own soul. 
Every act of complaint or thanksgiving, every pe- 
tition and every return of the heart in these inter- 
courses, is a going to God and appearing in his pres- 
* 33 



"Holy Living and Dying v 

ence, and a representing him present to thy spirit 
and to thy necessity. And this was long since, by 
a spiritual person, called "a building to God a chapel 
in our heart." It reconciles Martha's employment 
with Mary's devotion, charity, and religion. For 
thus in the midst of the works of your trade you 
may retire into your chapel, your heart, and con- 
verse with God by frequent addresses and returns. 

Let us remember that God is in us, and that we 
are in him ; we are his workmanship, let us not de- 
face it; we are in his presence, let us not pollute it 
by unholy actions. 

God is in every place ; suppose it, therefore, to be 
a church. And that decency of deportment and 
piety of carriage which you are taught by religion 
or by custom, or by civility and public manners, to 
use in churches, the same use in all places. 

God is in every creature. Be cruel toward none, 
neither abuse any by intemperance. Remember that 
the creatures, and every member of thy body, is one 
of the lesser cabinets and receptacles of God. 

He walks as in the presence of God that converses 
with him in frequent prayer and frequent commun- 
ion ; that runs to him in all his necessities ; that asks 
counsel of him in all his doubtings; that opens all 
his wants to him ; that weeps before him for his sins ; 
that asks remedy and support for his weakness ; that 
fears him as a judge, reverences him as a lord, obeys 
him as a father, and loves him as a patron. 

i39 



Honey from Many Hives 
humility. 

Humility is the great ornament and jewel of 
Christian religion, that whereby it is distinguished 
from all the wisdom of the world; it not having been 
taught by the wise men of the Gentiles, but first put 
into a disciple and made part of a religion by our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

Think not thyself better for anything that hap- 
pens to thee from without. Whatsoever other dif- 
ference there is between thee and thy neighbor, if 
it be bad it is thine own, but thou hast no reason to 
boast of thy misery and shame; if it be good, thou 
hast received it from God, and then thou art more 
obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, 
to him ; and it were a strange folly for a man to be 
proud of being more in debt than another. 

Never speak anything directly tending to thy 
praise or glory; that is, with a purpose to be com- 
mended, and for no other end. If other ends be 
mingled with thy honor, as if the glory of God, or 
charity, or necessity, or anything of prudence be thy 
end, you are not tied to omit your discourse or your 
design that you may avoid praise, but pursue your 
end, though praise come along in the company. 
Only let not praise be the design. 

When thou hast said or done a thing for which 
thou receivest praise or estimation, take it indiffer- 
ently, and return it to God, reflecting upon him as 
the giver of the gift, or the blesser of the action, or 
140 



"Holy Living and Dying m 

the aid of the design; and give God thanks for 
making thee an instrument of his glory, for the 
benefit of others. 

Secure a good name to thyself by living virtu- 
ously and humbly ; but let this good name be nursed 
abroad, and never be brought home to look upon it. 
Let others use it for their own advantage ; let them 
speak of it, if they please; but do not thou at 
all use it but as an instrument to do God glory 
and thy neighbor more advantage. Let thy face, 
like Moses 5 , shine to others, but make no looking- 
glasses for thyself. 

Take no content in praise when it is offered thee, 
but let thy rejoicing in God's gift be alloyed with 
fear lest this good bring thee to evil. Use the praise 
as you use your pleasure in eating and drinking. 
If it comes make it do drudgery, let it serve other 
ends, and minister to necessities, and to caution, lest 
by pride you lose your just praise which you have 
deserved; or else, by being praised unjustly, you 
receive shame unto yourself with God and wise 
men. 

Use no stratagems and devices to get praise. 
Some use to inquire into the faults of their own 
actions or discourses on purpose to hear that it was 
well done or spoken and without fault. Others 
bring the matter into talk, or thrust themselves into 
company, and intimate and give occasion to be 
thought or spoken of. These men make a bait to 

141 



Honey from Many Hives 

persuade themselves to swallow the hook, till by 
drinking the waters of vanity they swell and burst. 

Suffer others to be praised in thy presence, and 
entertain their good and glory with delight; but at 
no hand disparage them, or lessen the report, or 
make an objection; and think not the advancement 
of thy brother is a lessening of thy worth. Be con- 
tent that he should be employed, and thou laid by as 
unprofitable; his sentence approved, thine rejected; 
he be preferred, and thou fixed in a low employment. 

Never compare thyself with others, unless it be 
to advance them and to depress thyself. To which 
purpose we must be sure in some sense or other to 
think ourselves the worst in every company where 
we come. One is more learned than I am, another is 
more prudent, a third more honorable, a fourth 
more chaste, or he is more charitable, or less proud. 
For the humble man observes their good, and re- 
flects only upon his own vileness; or considers the 
many evils of himself certainly known to himself, 
and the ill of others but by uncertain report. Or he 
considers that the evils done by another are out of 
much infirmity or ignorance, but his own sins are 
against a clearer light ; and if the other had so great 
helps, he would have done more good and less evil. 
Or he remembers that his old sins before his con- 
version were greater in the nature of the thing, or in 
certain circumstances, than the sins of other men. 

Make no reflex acts upon thine own humility, nor 
142 



''Holy Living .and Dying" 

upon any other grace with which God hath en- 
riched thy soul. Spiritual pride is very dangerous, 
not only by reason it spoils so many graces by which 
we drew nigh unto the kingdom of God, but also 
because it so frequently creeps in upon the spirit of 
holy persons. 

Remember that the blessed Saviour of the w r orld 
hath done more to prescribe and transmit and secure 
this grace than any other; his whole life being a 
great, continued example of humility. 

Drive away all flatterers from thy company, and 
at no hand endure them; for he that endures him- 
self so to be abused by another is not only a fool for 
entertaining the mockery, but loves to have his own 
opinion of himself to be heightened and cherished. 

Never change thy employment for the sudden 
coming of another to thee; but if modesty permits, 
or discretion, appear to him that visits thee the same 
that thou wert to God and thyself in thy privacy. 
But if thou wert walking or sleeping, or in any other 
innocent employment or retirement, snatch not up 
a book to seem studious, nor fall on thy knees to 
seem devout, nor alter anything to make him believe 
thee better employed than thou wert. 

The humble man does not pertinaciously pursue 
the choice of his own will, but in all things lets God 
choose for him, and his superiors in those things 
which concern them. He does not murmur against 
commands. He is meek and indifferent in all acci- 
10 143 



Honey from Many Hives 

dents and chances. He patiently bears injuries. He 
is always unsatisfied in his own conduct, resolutions, 
and counsels. He is a great lover of good men, and 
a praiser of wise men, and a censurer of no man. 
He fears when he hears himself commended, lest 
God make another judgment concerning his actions 
than men do. He loves to sit down in private and, 
if he may, refuses the temptation of offices and new 
honors. He mends his fault, and gives thanks, when 
he is admonished. 

CONTENTEDNESS. 

Here is the wisdom of the contented man, to let 
God choose for him. For when we have given up 
our wills to him, and stand in that station of the 
battle where our great general hath placed us, our 
spirits must needs rest, while our conditions have, 
for their security, the power, the wisdom, and the 
charity of God. For no man is poor that does not 
think himself so; but if, in a full fortune, with im- 
patience he desires more, he proclaims his wants and 
his beggarly condition. 

Contentedness in all accidents brings great peace 
of spirit, and is the great and only instrument of 
temporal felicity. It removes the sting from the 
accident, and makes a man not to depend upon 
chance and the uncertain dispositions of men for his 
well-being, but only on God and his own spirit. We 
ourselves make our fortunes good or bad ; and when 
God lets loose a tyrant upon us, or a sickness, or 
144 



"Holy Living axd Dying ,j 

scorn, or a lessened fortune, if we fear to die, or 
know not to be patient, or are proud, or covetous, 
then the calamity sits heavy on us. But if we know 
how to manage a noble principle, and fear not death 
so much as a dishonest action, and think impatience 
a worse evil than a fever, and pride to be the biggest 
disgrace, and poverty to be infinitely desirable before 
the torments of covetousness — then we, who now 
think vice to be so easy, and make it so familiar, and 
think the cure so impossible, shall quickly be of 
another mind, and reckon these accidents amongst 
things eligible. 

But no man can be happy that hath great hopes 
and great fears of things without, and events de- 
pending upon other men, or upon the chances of 
fortune. He that suffers a transporting passion 
concerning things within the power of others is free 
from sorrow and amazement no longer than his 
enemy shall give him leave; and it is ten to one but 
he shall be smitten then and there where it shall 
most trouble him. 

When anything happens to our displeasure let us 
endeavor to take off its trouble by turning it into 
spiritual or artificial advantage, and handle it on 
that side in which it may be useful to the designs of 
reason. For there is nothing but hath a double 
handle, or at least we have two hands to apprehend 
it. If thou fallest from thy employment in public 
take sanctuary in an honest retirement, being indif- 

145 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

ferent to thy gain abroad or thy safety at home. If 
a calamity does any good to our souls it hath made 
more than sufficient recompense for all the temporal 
affliction. 

Never compare thy condition with those above 
thee; but, to secure thy content, look upon those 
thousands with whom thou wouldst not, for any 
interest, change thy fortune and condition. There 
is no wise or good man that would change persons 
or conditions entirely with any man in the world. 
It may be he would have one man's wealth added to 
himself, or the power of a second, or the learning 
of a third ; but still he would receive these into his 
own person, because he loves that best, and there- 
fore esteems it best, and therefore overvalues all that 
which he is before all that which any other man in 
the world can be. Either change all or none. Cease 
to love yourself best, or be content with that portion 
of being and blessing for which you love yourself 
so well. 

It conduces much to our content if we pass by 
these things which happen to our trouble, and con- 
sider that which is pleasing and prosperous, that, 
by the representation of the better, the worse may 
be blotted out. Or else reckon the blessings which 
already you have received, and therefore be pleased, 
in the change and variety of affairs, to receive evil 
from the hand of God as well as good. Or else 
please thyself with hopes of the future. Harvest 
146 



"Holy Living and Dying " 

will come, and then every farmer is rich, at least for 
a month or two. It may be thou art entered into 
the cloud which will bring a gentle shower to refresh 
thy sorrows. When a sadness lies heavy upon thee 
remember that thou art a Christian designed to the 
inheritance of Jesus; and what dost thou think con- 
cerning thy great fortune, thy lot, and portion of 
eternity ? 

These arts of looking backward and forward are 
more than enough to support the spirit of a Chris- 
tian; there is no man but hath blessings enough in 
present possession to outweigh the evils of great 
affliction. If you miss an office for which you stood 
candidate, then, besides that you are quit of the 
cares and the envy of it, you still have all those 
excellencies which rendered you capable to receive 
it, and they are better than the best office in the 
commonwealth. Or I am fallen into the hands of 
publicans and sequestrators, and they have taken all 
from me. What now? Let me look about me. 
They have left me the sun and moon, fire and water, 
a loving wife, and many friends to pity me, and 
some to relieve me, and I can still discourse; and, 
unless I list, they have not taken away my merry 
countenance, and my cheerful spirit, and a good 
conscience; they still have left me the providence 
of God, and all the promises of the Gospel, and my 
religion, and my hopes of heaven, and my charity to 
them too; and still I sleep and digest, I eat and 

i47 



Honey from Many Hives 

drink, I read and meditate, I can walk in my neigh- 
bor's pleasant fields, and see the varieties of natural 
beauties, and delight in all that in which God de- 
lights, that is, in virtue and wisdom, in the whole 
creation, and in God himself. And he that hath so 
many causes of joy, and so great, is very much in 
love with sorrow and peevishness who loses all these 
pleasures and chooses to sit down upon his little 
handful of thorns. 

Enjoy the present, whatsoever it be, and be not 
solicitous for the future. "Sufficient to the day," 
said Christ, "is the evil thereof ;" sufficient, but not 
intolerable. But if we look abroad and bring into 
one day's thoughts the evil of many, certain and un- 
certain, w T hat will be and what will never be, our 
load will be as intolerable as it is unreasonable. 

Let us prepare our minds against changes, always 
expecting them, that we be not surprised when they 
come; for nothing is so great an enemy to tran- 
quillity and a contented spirit as the amazement and 
confusions of unreadiness and inconsideration. 

Let us often frame to ourselves, and represent to 
our considerations, the images of those blessings 
we have, just as we usually understand them when 
we want them. Consider how desirable health is to 
a sick man, or liberty to a prisoner ; and if but a fit 
of the toothache seizes us with violence all those 
troubles which in our health afflicted us disband 
instantly and seem inconsiderable. 
148 



"Holy Living and Dying " 

If you will secure a contented spirit, you must 
measure your desires by your fortune and condition, 
not your fortunes by your desires. That is, be 
governed by your needs, not by your fancy; by 
nature, not by evil customs and ambitious prin- 
ciples. 

Consider that the universal providence of God 
hath so ordered it that the good things of nature 
and fortune are divided, that we may know how to 
bear our own and relieve each other's wants and 
imperfections. It is not for a man, but for a God, 
to have all excellencies and all felicities. 

Consider how many excellent personages in all 
ages have suffered as great or greater calamities 
than this which now tempts thee to impatience. It 
were a strange pride to expect to be more gently 
treated by the divine Providence than the best and 
wisest men, than apostles and saints, nay, the Son 
of the eternal God, the heir of both the worlds. 

There are many accidents which are esteemed 
great calamities, and yet we have reason enough to 
bear them well and unconcernedly ; for they neither 
touch our bodies nor our souls : our health and our 
virtue remain entire, our life and our reputation. 
Inquire what you are the worse, either in your soul 
or in your body, for what hath happened ; for upon 
this very stock many evils will disappear, since the 
body and the soul make up the whole man. 

Consider that sad accidents and a state of afflic- 

149 



Honey from Many Hives 

tion is a school of virtue ; it reduces our spirits to 
soberness, and our counsels to moderation ; it cor- 
rects levity, and interrupts the confidence of sinning. 

Consider that afflictions are oftentimes the occa- 
sions of great temporal advantages; and we must 
not look upon them as they sit down heavily upon 
us, but as they serve some of God's ends, and the 
purposes of universal Providence. For God esteems 
it one of his glories that he brings good out of evil; 
and therefore it were but reason we should trust 
God to govern his own world as he pleases, and that 
we should patiently wait till the change cometh or 
the reason be discovered. To which also may be 
added that the great evils which happen to the best 
and wisest men are one of the great arguments upon 
the strength of which we can expect felicity to our 
souls and the joys of another world. And certainly 
they are then very tolerable and eligible when, with 
so great advantages, they minister to the faith and 
hope of a Christian. 

LOVE TO GOD. 

Love does all things which may please the beloved 
person; it performs all his commandments. Love is 
obedient. It does all the intimations and secret sig- 
nifications of his pleasure whom we love. Great 
love is pliant and inquisitive in the instances of its 
expression. 

Love gives away all things, that so he may ad- 
*5° 



''Holy Living axd Dying " 

vance the interest of the beloved person. He never 
loved God that will quit anything of his religion to 
save his money. Love is always liberal and com- 
municative. 

It suffers all things that are imposed by its be- 
loved, or that can happen for his sake, or that inter- 
vene in his service, cheerfully, sweetly., willingly; 
expecting that God should turn them into good, 
and instruments of felicity. 

Love is also impatient of anything that may dis- 
please the beloved person; hating all sin as the 
enemy of its friend ; for love contracts all the same 
relations, and marries the same friendships and the 
same hatreds. And all affection to a sin is perfectly 
inconsistent with the love of God. 

Love endeavors forever to be present, to converse 
with, to enjoy, to be united with its object; loves 
to be talking of him. reciting his praises, telling his 
stories, repeating his words, imitating his gestures, 
transcribing his copy in everything ; and every de- 
gree of union and every degree of likeness is a 
degree of love : and it can endure anything but the 
displeasure and the absence of its beloved. 

He that loves God is not displeased at those acci- 
dents which God chooses : nor murmurs at those 
changes which he makes in his family ; nor envies at 
those gifts he bestows : but chooses as he likes, and 
is ruled by his judgment, and is perfectly of his 
persuasion : loving to learn where God is the teacher, 

151 



Honey from Many Hives 



and being content to be ignorant or silent where he 
is not pleased to open himself. 

Love is curious of little things, or circumstances 
and measures, and little accidents ; not allowing to 
itself any infirmity which it strives not to master, 
aiming at what it cannot yet reach, desiring to be 
of an angelical purity, and of a perfect innocence, 
and of a seraphical fervor, and fears every image 
of offense ; is as much afflicted at an idle word as 
some at an act of adultery, and will not allow to 
itself so much anger as will disturb a child, nor en- 
dure the impurity of a dream. And this is the 
curiosity and niceness of Divine love : this is the fear 
of God, and is the daughter and production of love. 



Fenelon 



FENELON- 

For two hundred years Fenelon has stood among 
the choicest few of those universally esteemed to be 
best qualified as religious guides. He belongs to no 
age and to no Church, but to all. He exemplified 
so sweetly in his life what he preached, and preached 
so eloquently what he lived, that few indeed have 
ever been found to equal him as an authority in 
spiritual things. He not only had a heart filled with 
the love of God and glowing with pure devotion, 
but also a mind capable of the closest analysis and 
the keenest discrimination. He was not only a saint, 
but also a scholar and a genius. Such combinations 
are very rare. His thirst for perfection has prob- 
ably never been surpassed. He follows self-love 
into its minutest workings, exposes all its subtleties, 
gives it no quarter, insists that it shall be destroyed 
root and branch. 

Fenelon sprang from one of the most illustrious 
families of France, his full name being Francois de 
Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon; his birthday was 
August 6, 1 65 1. His constitution was delicate, his 
natural disposition extremely amiable, his educa- 
tion conducted mainly at the College of Cahors and 
in Paris at the College du Plessis. He began to 
preach, attracting much attention, at the age of 
fifteen. Twice he seriously contemplated giving 

i53 



Honey from Many Hives 

himself to the work of foreign missions, but was 
prevented from carrying out his design. He was 
for some years preceptor to the Duke of Burgundy, 
the son of the dauphin, and at the age of forty-three 
he became Archbishop of Cambray. He was every- 
where known as "the good archbishop." No act 
of kindness w r as so great as to overtask him or so 
small as to escape his notice. His purity and gentle- 
ness of spirit subdued his enemies. The fullness of 
his love to all made it easy for him to extend for- 
giveness, and the freedom of his mind from vanity, 
as well as the exquisite courtesy of his manner, put 
everyone at ease in his presence. His sermons were 
always the outpourings of his heart. So extensive 
had been his charities, and yet so well balanced his 
worldly affairs, that he died without money and 
without a debt. He departed this life January 7, 
171 5, exhibiting in his last illness the same sweet- 
ness of temper, composure of mind, love for his fel- 
low-men, and confidence in God which distinguished 
all his days. He had the spirit of the Saviour in an 
extremely high degree, and came as near, perhaps, 
as any human being has done to losing his own will 
in the will divine. 

He was a voluminous writer. The most complete 
edition of his works, published at Versailles about 
seventy years ago, is comprised in thirty-four octavo 
volumes. Many of his writings have been translated 
into English, and various selections from them have 
iS4 



Fenelon 



been published from time to time. The extracts that 
follow are mostly taken from his Spiritual Letters 
and his Christian Counsel on Divers Matters Per- 
taining to the Inner Life. 



DAILY FAULTS. 

Little faults become great in our eyes m propor- 
tion as the pure light of God increases in us; just 
as the sun in rising reveals the true dimensions of 
objects which were dimly and confusedly discovered 
during the night. Be sure that with the increase of 
the inward light the imperfections which you have 
hitherto seen will be beheld as far greater and more 
deadly in their foundations than you now conceive 
them, and that you will witness, in addition, the 
development of a crowd of others of the existence 
of which you have not now the slightest suspicion. 
You w T ill find the weaknesses necessary to deprive 
you of all confidence in your own strength ; but this 
discovery, far from discouraging, will but serve to 
destroy your self-reliance, and to raze to the ground 
the edifice of pride. 

Our faults, even those most difficult to bear, will 
all be of service to us if we make use of them for our 
humiliation without relaxing our efforts to correct 
them. We must bear with ourselves without either 
flattery or discouragement, a mean seldom attained. 
Utter despair of ourselves, in consequence of a 
conviction of our helplessness, and unbounded 

iS5 



Honey from Many Hives 

confidence in God, are the true foundations of the 
spiritual edifice. 

Faults of haste and frailty are nothing in com- 
parison with those where we shut our eyes to the 
voice of the Holy Spirit beginning to speak in the 
depths of the heart. 

Discouragement is not a fruit of humility, but of 
pride; nothing can be worse. Suppose we have 
stumbled, or even fallen, let us rise and run again ; 
all our falls are useful if they strip us of a disastrous 
confidence in ourselves, while they do not take away 
a humble and salutary trust in God. 

Carefully purify your conscience from daily 
faults; suffer no sin to dwell in your heart; small as 
it may seem, it obscures the light of grace, weighs 
down the soul, and hinders that constant communion 
with Jesus Christ which it should be your pleasure 
to cultivate ; you will become lukewarm, forget God, 
and find yourself growing in attachment to the 
creature. The great point is never to act in oppo- 
sition to the inward light, and to be willing to go 
as far as God would have us. 

St. Francis of Sales says that great virtues and 
fidelity in small things are like sugar and salt ; sugar 
is more delicious but of less frequent use, while salt 
enters into every article of our food. Small occa- 
sions are unforeseen ; they recur every moment, and 
place us incessantly in conflict with our pride, our 
sloth, our self-esteem, and our passions; they are 
156 



Fenelon 

calculated thoroughly to subdue our wills and leave 
us no retreat. If we are faithful in them nature will 
have no time to breathe, and must die to all her 
inclinations. It would please us much better to make 
some great sacrifices, however painful and violent, 
on condition of obtaining liberty to follow our own 
pleasure, and retain our old habits in little things. 
But it is only by this fidelity in small matters that 
the grace of true love is sustained and distinguished 
from the transitory excitements of nature. 

God does not so much regard our actions as the 
motive of love from which they spring, and the 
pliability of our wills to his. Men judge our deeds 
by their outward appearance; with God that which 
is most dazzling in the eyes of man is of no account. 
What he desires is a pure intention, a will ready for 
anything and ever pliable in his hands, and an honest 
abandonment of self ; and all this can be much more 
frequently manifested on small than on extraor- 
dinary occasions ; there will also be much less danger 
from pride, and the trial will be far more searching. 
Indeed, it sometimes happens that we find it harder 
to part with a trifle than with an important interest ; 
it may be more of a cross to abandon a vain amuse- 
ment than to bestow a large sum in charity. 

The greatest danger of all consists in this, that by 
neglecting small matters the soul becomes accus- 
tomed to unfaithfulness. We grieve the Holy Spirit, 
we return to ourselves, we think it a little thing to 

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Honey from Many Hives 

be wanting toward God. On the other hand, true 
love can see nothing small; everything that can 
either please or displease God seems to be great ; not 
that true love disturbs the soul with scruples, but it 
puts no limits to its faithfulness. It acts simply with 
God: and as it does not concern itself about those 
things w^hich God does not require from it, so it 
never hesitates an instant about those which he does, 
be they great or small. 

Thus it is not by incessant care that we become 
faithful and exact in the smallest things, but simply 
by a love which is free from the reflections and fears 
of restless and scrupulous souls. We are, as it were, 
drawn along by the love of God ; we have no desire 
to do anything but what we do, and no will in re- 
spect to anything which we do not do. The soul 
enjoys perfect peace in God. 

NOT PERFECT IN A MOMENT. 

Neither in his gracious nor providential dealings 
does God work a miracle lightly. It would be as 
great a wonder to see a person full of self become 
in a moment dead to all self-interest, and all sensi- 
tiveness, as it would be to see a slumbering infant 
wake in the morning a fully developed man. God 
works in a mysterious way in grace as well as in 
nature, concealing his operations under an imper- 
ceptible succession of events, and thus keeps us 
always in the darkness of faith. 
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He makes use of the inconstancy and ingratitude 
of the creature, and of the disappointments and sur- 
feits which accompany prosperity, to detach us from 
them both; he frees us from self by rendering to us 
our weaknesses, and our corruptions, in a multitude 
of backslidings. All this dealing appears perfectly 
natural, and it is by this succession of natural means 
that we are burnt as by a slow fire, We should like 
to be consumed at once by the flames of pure love, 
but such an end would scarce cost us anything; it 
is only an excessive self-love that desires thus to 
become perfect in a moment and at so cheap a rate. 

We cling to an infinity of things which we should 
never suspect; we only feel that they are a part of 
us when they are snatched away, as I am only con- 
scious that I have hairs when they are pulled from 
my head. God develops to us, little by little, what is 
within us, of which we are, until then, entirely 
ignorant, and we are astonished at discovering in 
our very virtues defects of which we should never 
have believed ourselves capable. 

God spares us by discovering our weakness to us 
just in proportion as our strength to support the 
view of it increases. We discover our imperfections 
one by one, as we are able to cure them. Without 
this merciful preparation, that adapts our strength 
to the light within, we should be in despair. 

To the sincere desire to do the will of God we 
must add a cheerful spirit that is not overcome when 
H i59 



Honey from Many Hives 

it has failed, but tries again and again to do better ; 
hoping always to the very end to be able to do it; 
bearing with its own involuntary weakness as God 
bears with it ; waiting with patience for the moment 
w T hen it shall be delivered from it; going straight on 
in singleness of heart according to the strength that 
it can command ; losing no time by looking back, nor 
making useless reflections upon its falls, which can 
only embarrass and retard its progress. The first 
sight of our little failings should humble us, but then 
we must press on; not judging ourselves with a 
Judaical rigor, not regarding God as a spy watching 
for our least offense, or as an enemy who places 
snares in our path, but as a Father who loves and 
wishes to save us; trusting in his goodness, invok- 
ing his blessing, and doubting all other support. 
This is true liberty. 

One of the principles in the doctrines of holy liv- 
ing is that we should not be premature in drawing 
the conclusion that the process of inward crucifixion 
is complete, and that our abandonment to God is 
without any reservation whatever. The act of con- 
secration, which is a sort of incipient step, may be 
sincere ; but the reality of the consecration in the full 
extent to which we suppose it to exist, and which 
may properly be described as entire self-renuncia- 
tion, can be known only when God has applied the 
appropriate tests. The trial will show whether we 
are wholly the Lord's. Those who prematurely 
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draw the conclusion that they are so expose them- 
selves to great illusion and injury. 

EASY WAYS OF DIVINE LOVE. 

Christian perfection is not that rigorous, tedious, 
cramping thing that many imagine. It demands 
only an entire surrender of everything to God from 
the depths of the soul, and the moment this takes 
place whatever is done for him becomes easy. They 
who are God's without reserve are in every state 
content ; for they will only what he wills, and desire 
to do for him whatever he desires them to do ; they 
strip themselves of everything, and in this naked- 
ness find all things restored a hundredfold. Peace 
of conscience, liberty of spirit, the sweet abandon- 
ment of themselves and theirs into the hand of God, 
the joy of perceiving the light always increasing in 
their hearts, and finally the freedom of their souls 
from the bondage of the fears and desires of this 
world — these things constitute that return of happi- 
ness which the true children of God receive a hun- 
dredfold in the midst of their crosses, while they 
remain faithful. 

What God requires of us is a will which is no 
longer divided between him and any creature; a 
simple, pliable state of will which desires what he 
desires, rejects nothing but what he rejects, and 
wills without reserve what he wills, and under no 
pretext wills what he does not. In this state of mind 

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Honey from Many Hives 

all things are proper for us ; our amusements, even, 
are acceptable in his sight. 

Blessed is he who thus gives himself to God ! He 
is delivered from his passions, from the opinions 
of men, from their malice, from the tyranny of their 
maxims, from their cold and miserable raillery, from 
the misfortunes which the world attributes to 
chance, from the infidelity and fickleness of friends, 
from the artifices and snares of enemies, from the 
wretchedness and shortness of life, from the horrors 
of an ungodly death, from the cruel remorse that 
follows sinful pleasures, and, finally, from the ever- 
lasting condemnation of God. 

Happy those who throw themselves, as it were, 
headlong, and with their eyes shut, into the arms 
of "the Father of mercies and the God of all com- 
fort." Their whole desire then is to know what is 
the will of God respecting them ; and they fear noth- 
ing so much as not perceiving the whole of his 
requirements. So soon as they behold a new light in 
his law they are transported with joy, like a miser 
at the finding of a treasure. 

No matter what cross may overwhelm the true 
child of God, he wills everything that happens, and 
would not have anything removed which his Father 
appoints; the more he loves God, the more is he 
filled with content; and the most stringent perfec- 
tion, far from being a burden, only renders his yoke 
the lighter. 
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THE* DIVINE PRESENCE. 

The true source of all our perfection is contained 
in the command of God to Abraham, "Walk before 
me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. xvii, i). 

The presence of God calms the soul, and gives it 
quiet and repose even during the day and in the 
midst of occupation; but we must be given up to 
God without reserve. 

Whenever we perceive within us anxious desires 
for anything, whatever it may be, and find that 
nature is hurrying us with too much haste to do what 
is to be done, whether it be to see something, say 
something, or to do something, let us stop short and 
repress the precipitancy of our thoughts and the 
agitations of our actions ; for God has said that his 
Spirit does not dwell in disquiet. 

An excellent means of preserving our interior 
solitude and liberty of soul is to make it a rule to put 
an end, at the close of every action, to all reflections 
upon it, all reflex acts of self-love, whether of a vain 
joy or sorrow. 

Let us be accustomed to recollect ourselves during 
the day and in the midst of our occupations by a 
simple view of God. Let us silence by that means 
all the movements of our hearts, when they appear 
in the least agitated. Let us separate ourselves from 
all that does not come from God. Let us suppress 
our superfluous thoughts and reveries. Let us utter 
no useless word. Let us seek God within us, and 

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Hoxey from Many Hives 

we shall find him without fail, and with him joy and 
peace. 

While outwardly busy let us be more occupied 
with God than with everything else. To be rightly 
engaged we must be in his presence and employed 
for him. At the sight of the majesty of God our 
interior ought to become calm and remain tranquil. 
Once a single word of the Saviour suddenly calmed 
a furiously agitated sea; one look of his at us, and 
of ours toward him, ought always to perform the 
same miracle within us. 

We must not wait for a leisure hour when we can 
bar our doors; the moment that is employed in 
regretting that we have no opportunity to be recol- 
lected might be profitably spent in recollection. Let 
us turn our hearts toward God in a simple, familiar 
spirit, full of confidence in him. The most inter- 
rupted moments, even while eating, or listening to 
others, are valuable. Tiresome and idle talk in our 
presence, instead of annoying, will afford us the 
delight of employing the interval in seeking God. 
Thus all things work together for good to them that 
love God. 

Let us be careful not to suffer ourselves to be 
overwhelmed by the multiplicity of our exterior 
occupations, be they what they may. Let us en- 
deavor to commence every enterprise with a pure 
view to the glory of God, continue it without dis- 
traction, and finish it without impatience. The in- 
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Fenelon 

tervals of relaxation and amusement are the most 
dangerous for us and perhaps the most useful for 
others ; we must then be on our guard that we be as 
faithful as possible to the presence of God. We can 
never employ our leisure hours better than in 
refreshing our spiritual strength by a secret and inti- 
mate communion with God. Prayer is so necessary, 
and the source of so many blessings, that he who 
has discovered the treasure cannot be prevented 
from having recourse to it whenever he has an 
opportunity. 

TRUE PRAYER. 

True prayer is only another name for the love of 
God. To pray is to desire — but to desire what God 
would have us desire. He who asks what he does 
not from the bottom of his heart desire is mistaken 
in thinking that he prays. O how few there are who 
pray ! for how few are the}' who desire what is truly 
good. Crosses, external and internal humiliation, 
renouncement of our own wills, the death of self and 
the establishment of God's throne upon the ruins of 
self-love — these are indeed good ; not to desire these 
is not to pray ; to desire them seriously, soberly, con- 
stantly, and with reference to all the details of life — 
this is true prayer. Alas ! how many souls full of 
self, and of an imaginary desire for perfection in the 
midst of hosts of voluntary imperfections, have 
never yet uttered this true prayer of the heart! It 
is in reference to this that St. Augustine says : "He 

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Honey from Many Hives 

that loveth little prayeth little ; he that loveth much 
prayeth much." 

Our intercourse with God resembles that with a 
friend : at first there are a thousand things to be 
told, and as many to be asked; but after a time these 
diminish, while the pleasure of being together does 
not. Everything has been said, but the satisfaction 
of seeing each other, of feeling that one is near the 
other, of reposing in the enjoyment of a pure and 
sweet friendship, can be felt without conversation ; 
the silence is eloquent and mutually understood. 
Each feels that the other is in perfect sympathy with 
him, and that their two hearts are incessantly poured 
out into the other, and constitute but one. 

Those who have stations of importance to fill have 
generally so many indispensable duties to perform 
that, without the greatest care in the management 
of their time, none will be left to be alone with God. 
If they have ever so little inclination for dissipation 
the hours that belong to God and their neighbor dis- 
appear altogether. We must be firm in observing 
our rules. This strictness seems excessive, but with- 
out it everything falls into confusion: we become 
dissipated, relaxed, and lose strength ; we insensibly 
separate from God, surrender ourselves to all our 
pleasures, and only then begin to perceive that we 
have wandered where it is almost hopeless to think 
of endeavoring to return. 

The Christian life is a long and continual tend- 
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ency of our hearts toward that eternal goodness 
which we desire upon earth. All our happiness con- 
sists in thirsting for it. Xow this thirst is prayer. 
Ever desire to approach your Creator and you will 
never cease to pray. 

The best of all prayers is to act with a pure inten- 
tion and with a continual reference to the will of 
God. Unhappy are they whose prayers do not ren- 
der them more humble, more submissive, more vigi- 
lant over their faults, and more willing to live in 
obscurity. The coldness of our love is the silence of 
our hearts toward God. Without this we may pro- 
nounce prayers, but we do not pray ; for what shall 
lead us to meditate upon the laws of God if it be not 
the love of him who has made these laws ? 

THE HUMAN WILL. 

True virtue and pure love reside in the will alone. 
The question is not. What is the state of our feel- 
ings? but. What is the condition of our will? Let 
us will to have whatever we have, and not to have 
whatever we have not. We would not even be 
delivered from our sufferings, for it is God's place to 
apportion to us our crosses and our joys. In the 
midst of affliction we rejoice, as did the apostle ; but 
it is not joy of the feelings, but of the will. The 
wicked are wretched in the midst of their pleasures, 
because they are never content with their state ; they 
are always desiring to remove some thorn, or to add 

167 



Honey from Many Hives 

some flower to their present condition. The faith- 
ful soul, on the other hand, has a will which is per- 
fectly free; it accepts, without questioning, whatever 
bitter blessings God develops, wills them, loves 
them, and embraces them; it would not be freed 
from them if it could be accomplished by a simple 
wish; for such a wish would be an act originating 
in self and contrary to its abandonment to Provi- 
dence, and it is desirous that this abandonment 
should be absolutely perfect. 

If there be anything capable of setting a soul in a 
large place it is this absolute abandonment to God. 
If there be anything that can render the soul calm, 
dissipate its scruples and dispel its fears, sweeten 
its sufferings by the anointing of love, impart 
strength to it in all its actions, and spread abroad 
the joy of the Holy Spirit in its countenance and 
words, it is this simple, free, and childlike repose in 
the arms of God. 

The important question is, not how much you 
enjoy religion, but whether you will whatever God 
wills. 

The essence of virtue consists in the attitude of 
the will. That kingdom of God which is within us 
consists in our willing whatever God wills, always, 
in everything, and without reservation ; and thus his 
kingdom comes ; for his will is then done as it is in 
heaven, since we will nothing but what is dictated 
by his sovereign pleasure. Thus nothing can ever 
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Fenelon. 

come to pass against our wishes; for nothing can 
happen contrary to the will of God, and we find in 
his good pleasure an inexhaustible source of peace 
and consolation. 

The interior life is the beginning of the blessed 
peace of the saints, who eternally cry, Amen, Amen. 
We adore, we praise, we bless God in everything; 
we see him incessantly, and in all things his paternal 
hand is the sole object of our contemplation. There 
are no longer any evils; for even the most terrible 
that can come upon us work together for our good. 
Can the suffering that God designs to purify us and 
make us worthy of himself be called an evil ? 

Let us cast all our cares then into the bosom of so 
good a Father, and suffer him to do as he pleases. 
Let us be content to adopt his will in all points, and 
to abandon our own absolutely and forever. How 
can we retain anything of our own when we do not 
even belong to ourselves? The only thing that 
really belongs to us is our will, and it is of this, 
therefore, that God is especially jealous, for he gave 
it to us not that we should retain it, but that we 
should return it to him, whole as we received it, and 
without the slightest reservation. If the least de- 
sire remains, or the smallest hesitation, it is robbing 
God, contrary to the order of creation ; for all things 
come from him, and to him they are all due. Alas! 
how many souls there are full of self, and desirous 
of doing good and serving God, but in such a way 

169 



Honey from Many Hives 

as to suit themselves; who desire to impose rules 
upon God as to his manner of drawing them to him- 
self. They want to serve and possess him, but they 
are not willing to abandon themselves to him and be 
possessed by him. 

To desire to serve God in one place rather than in 
another, in this way rather than in that — is not this 
desiring to serve him in our own way rather than in 
his? But to be equally ready for all things, to will 
everything and nothing, to leave ourselves in his 
hands like a toy in the hands of a child, to set no 
bounds to our abandonment inasmuch as the per- 
fect reign of God cannot abide them — this is really 
denying ourselves ; this is treating him like a 
God and ourselves like creatures made solely for 
his use. 

The peace of the soul consists in an absolute resig- 
nation to the will of God. The pain we suffer from 
so many occurrences arises from the fact that we 
are not entirely abandoned to God in everything that 
happens. Let us put all things, then, into his hands, 
and offer them to him in our hearts, as a sacrifice 
beforehand. From the moment that you cease to 
desire anything according to your own judgment, 
and begin to will everything just as God wills it, you 
will be free from your former tormenting reflec- 
tions and anxieties about your own concerns; you 
will no longer have anything to conceal or take 
care of. 
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CONTINUAL CROSSES. 

In regard to austerities everyone must regard his 
attraction, his state, his need, and his temperament. 
A simple mortification, consisting in nothing more 
than an unshaken fidelity in providential crosses, is 
often far more valuable than severe austerities 
which render the life more marked, and tempt to a 
vain self-complacency. Whoever will refuse noth- 
ing which comes in the order of God, and seek 
nothing out of that order, need never fear to finish 
his day's work without partaking of the cross of 
Jesus Christ. There is an indispensable Providence 
for crosses as well as for the necessaries of life; they 
are a part of our daily bread ; God never will suffer it 
to fail. It is sometimes a very useful mortification 
to certain fervent souls to give up their own plans 
of mortification and adopt with cheerfulness those 
which are momentarily revealed in the order of God. 
When a soul is not faithful in providential mortifi- 
cations there is reason to fear some illusion in those 
which are sought through the fervor of devotion; 
such warmth is often deceitful, and it seems to me 
that a soul in this case would do well to examine its 
faithfulness under the daily crosses allotted by 
Providence. 

The crosses which originate with ourselves are 
not as efficient in eradicating self-love as those 
which come in the daily allotments of God. These 
latter contribute no aliment for the nourishment of 

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Hoxey from Many Hives 

our own wills, and as they proceed immediately 
from a merciful Providence they are accompanied 
by grace sufficient for all our needs. We have noth- 
ing to do, then, but to surrender ourselves to God 
each day, without looking further ; he will carry us 
in his arms as a tender mother bears her child. 

The best rule we can ever adopt is to receive 
equally, and with the same submission, everything 
that God sends us during the day, both within and 
without. Without, there are things disagreeable 
that must be met with courage, and things pleasant 
that must not be suffered to arrest our affections. 
They must be received because God sends them, and 
not because they are agreeable to our own feelings; 
they are to be used, like any other medicine, without 
self-complacency, without attachment to them, and 
without appropriation. We must accept them, but 
not hold on to them; so that when God sees fit to 
withdraw them we may neither be dejected nor dis- 
couraged. We must count less upon sensible de- 
lights, and the measures of wisdom which we devise 
for our own perfection, than upon simplicity, lowli- 
ness, renunciation of our own efforts,, and perfect 
pliability to all the designs of grace. 

WHAT IS MEANT BY RENOUNCING ALL? 

We must not only renounce evil, but also good 
things ; for Jesus has said. "Whosoever he be of you 
that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be 
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Fexelox 

my disciple" (Luke xiv, 33). The abandonment of 
evil things consists in refusing them with horror; 
of good things, in using them with moderation for 
our necessities, continually studying to retrench all 
those imaginary wants with which greedy nature 
would flatter herself. We are moderately, and with- 
out inordinate emotion, to do what is in our power 
to retain goods and honors in order to make a sober 
use of them, without desiring to enjoy them, or 
placing our hearts upon them. 

The Christian must abandon everything that he 
has, however innocent ; for if he do not renounce it 
it ceases to be innocent. He must abandon those 
things which it is his duty to guard with the greatest 
possible care, such as the good of his family, or his 
own reputation, for he must have his heart on none 
of these things ; he must be ready to give them all 
up whenever it is the will of Providence to deprive 
him of them. 

He must give up those whom he loves best, and 
whom it is his duty to love : and his renouncement 
of them consists in this, that he is to love them for 
God only ; to make use of the consolation of their 
friendship soberly, and for the supply of his wants; 
to be ready to part with them whenever God wills it, 
and never to seek in them the true repose of his 
heart. It is thus that we use the world and the 
creature as not abusing them. We do not desire to 
take pleasure in them ; we only use what God gives 

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Honey from Many Hives 

us, what he wills that we should love, and what we 
accept with the reserve of a heart receiving it only 
for necessity's sake and keeping itself for a more 
worthy object. It is in this sense that Christ would 
have us leave father and mother, brothers and sis- 
ters and friends, and that he is come to bring a 
sword upon earth. 

Having abandoned everything exterior, it re- 
mains to complete the sacrifice by renouncing every- 
thing interior, including self. You must renounce 
all satisfaction, and all natural complacency in your 
own wisdom and virtue. Remember, the purer and 
more excellent the gifts of God the more jealous he 
is of them. He would have us attached to nothing 
but himself, and to regard his gifts, however excel- 
lent, as only the means of uniting us more easily and 
intimately to him. Whoever contemplates the grace 
of God with a satisfaction and sort of pleasure of 
ownership turns it into poison. 

Live, as it were, on trust; all that is in you, and 
all that you are, is only loaned you ; make use of it 
according to the will of Him who lends it, but never 
regard it for a moment as your own. Herein con- 
sists true self-abandonment; it is this spirit of self- 
divesting, this use of ourselves and of ours with a 
single eye to the movements of God, who alone is 
the true proprietor of his creatures. You may be 
exercised in self-renunciation in every event of 
every day. 
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Happy is he who never hesitates ; who fears only 
that he follows with too little readiness ; who would 
rather do too much against self than too little! 
Blessed is he who, when asked for a sample, boldly 
presents his entire stock and suffers God to cut from 
the whole cloth ! Happy he who, esteeming himself 
as nothing, puts God to no necessity of sparing him ! 
Thrice happy he whom all this does not affright! 
It is thought that this state is a painful one ; it is a 
mistake: here is peace and liberty; here the heart, 
detached from everything, is immeasurably enlarged, 
so as to become illimitable; nothing cramps it; and 
in accordance with the promise it becomes, in a 
certain sense, one with God himself. 

True progress does not consist in a multitude of 
views, nor in austerities, trouble, and strife; it is 
simply willing nothing and everything, without res- 
ervation and without choice, cheerfully performing 
each day's journey as Providence appoints it for us; 
seeking nothing, refusing nothing; finding every- 
thing in the present moment, and suffering God, 
who does everything, to do his pleasure in and by us 
without the slightest resistance. O, how happy is he 
who has attained to this state! and how full of 
good things is his soul when it appears emptied of 
everything ! 

HOW TO WATCH. 

The soul which God truly leads by the hand ought 
to watch its path, but with a simple, tranquil vigi- 
ls i75 



Honey from Many Hives 

lance confined to the present moment, and without 
restlessness from love of self. Its attention should 
be continually directed to the will of God, in order 
to fulfill it every instant, and not be engaged in 
reflex acts upon itself in order to be assured of its 
state when God prefers it should be uncertain. 

We never watch so diligently over ourselves as 
when we walk in the presence of God, as he com- 
manded Abraham. And, in fact, what should be the 
end of all our vigilance ? To follow step by step the 
will of God. He who conforms to that in all things 
watches over himself and sanctifies himself in every- 
thing. If then we never lose sight of the presence of 
God we should never cease to watch, and always 
with a simple, lovely, quiet, and disinterested vigi- 
lance; while, on the other hand, the watchfulness 
which is the result of a desire to be assured of our 
state is harsh, restless, and full of self. 

In addition to the presence of God and a state of 
recollection we may add the examination of con- 
science according to our need, but conducted in a 
way that grows more and more simple, easy, and 
destitute of restless self-contemplations. We ex- 
amine ourselves not for our own satisfaction, but 
to conform to the advice we receive, and to accom- 
plish the will of God. 

We must silence every creature, including self, 
that in the deep stillness of the soul we may perceive 
the ineffable voice of the Bridegroom. We must 
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Fenelon 

lend an attentive ear, for his voice is soft and still 
and is only heard of those who listen for nothing 
else. How rare is it to find a soul still enough to 
hear God speak! The least reserve, the slightest 
self-reflective act, the most imperceptible fear of 
hearing too clearly what God demands, interferes 
with the interior voice. 

INDEPENDENCE. 

Do not suffer yourself to get excited by what is 
said about you. Let the world talk. Do you strive 
to do the will of God; as for that of men, you could 
never succeed in doing it to their satisfaction, and 
it is not worth the pains. 

Let the water flow beneath the bridge. Let men 
be men, that is to say, weak, vain, inconsistent, un- 
just, false, and presumptuous; let the world be the 
world still ; you cannot prevent it. Let everyone 
follow his own inclination and habits; you cannot 
recast them, and the best course is to let them be as 
they are and bear with them. Do not think it 
strange when you witness unreasonableness and in- 
justice; rest in peace in the bosom of God; he sees it 
all more clearly than you do, and yet permits it. Be 
content to do quietly and gently what it becomes you 
to do, and let everything else be to you as though it 
were not. 

As long as the world is anything to us, so long 
our freedom is but a word, and we are as easily cap- 

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Hoxey from Many Hives 

tured as a bird whose leg is fastened by a thread. 
He seems to be free; the string is not visible, but he 
can only fly its length, and he is a prisoner. 

Do not be vexed at what people say. Let them 
speak, while you endeavor to do the will of God. A 
little silence, peace, and communion with God will 
compensate you for all the injustice of men. We 
must love our fellow-beings without depending upon 
their friendship. They leave us, they return, and 
they go from us again. Let them go or come; it is 
the feather blown about by the wind. Fix your 
attention upon God alone in your connection with 
them. It is he alone who, through them, consoles 
or afflicts you. 

Possess your soul in patience. Renew often with- 
in you the feeling of the presence of God, that you 
may learn moderation. There is nothing truly great 
but lowliness, charity, fear of ourselves, and detach- 
ment from the dominion of sense. Accustom your- 
self gradually to carry prayer into your daily occu- 
pations. Speak, move, act in peace, as if you were 
in prayer. Do everything without eagerness, as if 
by the Spirit of God. As soon as you perceive your 
natural impetuosity impelling you retire into the 
sanctuary where dwells the Father of Spirits ; listen 
to what you there hear ; and then neither say nor do 
anything but what he dictates in your heart. You 
will find that you will become more tranquil ; that 
your w r ords will be fewer and more to the purpose, 
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Fenelon 

and that with less effort you will accomplish more 
good. When the heart is fixed on God it can easily 
accustom itself to suspend the natural movements 
of ardent feeling, and to wait for the favorable 
moment when the voice within may speak. This is 
the continual sacrifice of self, and the life of faith. 
This death of self is a blessed life; for the grace that 
brings peace succeeds to the passions that produce 
trouble. Endeavor to acquire a habit of looking to 
this light within you ; then all your life will gradu- 
ally become a prayer. You may suffer, but you will 
find peace in suffering. 

THE FAULTS OF OTHERS. 

Perfection is easily tolerant of the imperfections 
of others; it becomes all things to all men. We must 
not be surprised at the greatest defects in good souls, 
and must quietly let them alone until God gives the 
signal of gradual removal ; otherwise we shall pull 
up the wheat with the tares. 

They who correct others ought to watch the mo- 
ment when God touches their hearts ; we must bear 
a fault with patience till we perceive his Spirit re- 
proaching them within. We must imitate him who 
gently reproves, so that they feel that it is less God 
that condemns them than their own hearts. When 
we blame with impatience because we are displeased 
with the fault it is a human censure, and not the dis- 
approbation of God. It is a sensitive self-love that 

179 



Honey from Many Hives 

cannot forgive the self-love of others. The more 
self-love we have the more severe our censures. 
There is nothing so vexatious as the collisions be- 
tween one excessive self-love and another still more 
violent and sensitive. The passions of others are 
infinitely ridiculous to those who are under the 
dominion of their own. The ways of God are very 
different. He is ever full of kindness for us, he 
gives us strength, he regards us with pity and con- 
descension, he remembers our weakness, he waits 
for us. The less we have ourselves the more con- 
siderate we are of others. 

I am very sorry for the imperfections you find in 
human beings, but we must learn to expect but little 
from them; this is the only security against disap- 
pointment. We must receive from them what they 
are able to give us, as from trees the fruits that they 
yield. God bears with imperfect beings even when 
they resist his goodness. We ought to imitate this 
merciful patience and endurance. It is only imper- 
fection that complains of what is imperfect. The 
more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we 
become toward the defects of others. 

The defects of our neighbor interfere with our 
own ; our vanity is wounded by that of another ; our 
own haughtiness finds our neighbor's ridiculous and 
insupportable; our restlessness is rebuked by the 
sluggishness and indolence of this person; our 
gloom is disturbed by the gayety and frivolity of 
1 80 



Fenelon. 

that person, and our heedlessness by the shrewdness 
and address of another. If we were faultless we 
should not be so much annoyed by the defects of 
those with whom we associate. If we w r ere to 
acknowledge honestly that we have not virtue 
enough to bear patiently with our neighbor's weak- 
nesses we should show our own imperfection, and 
this alarms our vanity. We therefore make our 
weakness pass for strength, elevate it to a virtue, 
and call it zeal. For is it not surprising to see how 
tranquil we are about the errors of others when they 
do not trouble us, and how soon this wonderful zeal 
kindles against those who excite our jealousy or 
weary our patience ? 

HUMILITY. 

The foundation of peace with all men is humility. 
Pride is incompatible with pride; hence arise divi- 
sions in the world. We must stifle all rising jeal- 
ousies, all little contrivances to promote our own 
glory, vain desires to please, or to succeed, or to be 
praised, the fear of seeing others preferred to our- 
selves, the anxiety to have our plans carried into 
effect, the natural love of dominion, and desire to 
influence others. These rules are soon given, but it 
is not so easy to observe them. With some people 
not only pride and hauteur render these duties very 
difficult, but great natural sensitiveness makes the 
practice of them nearly impossible, and, instead of 

181 



Honey from Many Hives 

respecting their neighbor with a true feeling of 
humility, all their charity amounts only to a sort 
of compassionate toleration that nearly resembles 
contempt. 

Humility is the source of all true greatness ; pride 
is ever impatient, ready to be offended. He who 
thinks nothing is due to him never thinks himself 
ill-treated; true meekness is not mere temperament, 
for this is only softness or weakness. 

There is no true and constant gentleness without 
humility ; while we are so fond of ourselves we are 
easily offended with others. Let us be persuaded 
that nothing is due to us, and then nothing will dis- 
turb us. Let us often think of our own infirmities 
and we shall become indulgent toward those of 
others. 

MODERATION. 

The best and highest use of your mind is to learn 
to distrust yourself ; to renounce your own will and 
to submit to the will of God; to become as a little 
child. It is not of doing different things that I 
speak, but of performing the most common actions 
with your heart fixed on God, and as one who is 
accomplishing the end of his being. You will act as 
others do, except that you will never sin. You will 
be a faithful friend, polite, attentive, complaisant, 
and cheerful, at those times when it is becoming in 
a true Christian to be so. You will be moderate at 
table, moderate in speaking, moderate in expense, 
182 



F^NELON 

moderate in judging, moderate in your diversions; 
temperate even in your wisdom and foresight, It 
is this universal sobriety in the use of the best things 
that is taught us by the true love of God. We are 
neither austere, nor fretful, nor scrupulous, but have 
within ourselves a principle of love that enlarges the 
heart and sheds a gentle influence upon everything ; 
that, without constraint or effort, inspires a delicate 
apprehension lest we should displease God, and that 
arrests us if we are tempted to do wrong. 

VARIOUS ADVICES. 

Peace in this life springs from acquiescence even 
in disagreeable things, not in an exemption from 
suffering. 

Let us do good according to the means which God 
has given us, with discretion, with courage, and 
with perseverance. We shall find occasions to do 
good everywhere; they surround us; it is the will 
that is needed. The deepest solitudes, when we 
seem to have the least communication with others, 
will furnish us with means of doing good to our 
fellow-beings, and of glorifying him who is their 
Master and ours. 

A life of faith produces two things : First, it ena- 
bles us to see God in everything; secondly, it holds 
the mind in a state of readiness for whatever may 
be his will. This continual, unceasing dependence 
on God, this state of entire peace and acquiescence 

183 



Honey from Many Hives 

of the soul in whatever may happen, is the true, 
silent martyrdom of self. 

We cannot always be doing a great work, but we 
can always be doing something that belongs to our 
condition. To be silent, to suffer, to pray when we 
cannot act, is acceptable to God. A disappointment, 
a contradiction, a harsh word received and endured 
as in his presence, is worth more than a long prayer ; 
and we do not lose time if we bear its loss with 
gentleness and patience, provided the loss was in- 
evitable and was not caused by our own fault. 

The best proof that we are influenced by the 
Spirit of God is, first, when the action itself is pure 
and conformable to the perfection of his laws; 
secondly, when we perform it simply, tranquilly, 
without eagerness to do it, contented if it is neces- 
sary to relinquish it; thirdly, when, after the work 
is done, we do not seek by unquiet reflections to 
justify the action even to ourselves, but are willing 
it should be condemned, or to condemn it ourselves, 
if any superior light discovers it to be wrong; and 
when, in fine, we do not appropriate the action to 
ourselves, but refer it to the will of God; fourthly, 
when this work leaves the soul in its simplicity, in 
its peace, in its own uprightness, in humility, and in 
self-forgetfulness. 

The soul in the state of pure love acts in sim- 
plicity. Its inward rule of action is found in the 
decisions of a sanctified judgment. These decisions, 
184 



Fenelon 

guided as they are by a higher power, based upon 
judgments that are free from self-interest, are the 
voice of God in the soul. They may not always be 
absolutely right, because our views and judgments, 
being limited, can extend only to things in part ; but 
they may be said to be relatively right; they con- 
form to things so far as we are permitted to see them 
and understand them, and convey to the soul a moral 
assurance that, when we act in accordance with 
them, we are doing as God would have us do. But 
we must be sure that the soul is free from any selfish 
bias whatever. 

As things are in the present life, those who are 
wholly devoted to God may suffer in the inferior 
part (the natural appetites, propensities, and affec- 
tions), and may be at rest in the superior (the judg- 
ment, the moral sense, and the will). Their wills 
may be in harmony with the divine will ; they may 
be approved in their judgments and conscience, and 
at the same time may suffer greatly in their physical 
relations and in their natural sensibilities. In this 
manner Christ, upon the cross, while his will re- 
mained firm in its union with the will of his heavenly 
Father, suffered much through his physical system ; 
he felt the painful longings of thirst, the pressure of 
the thorns, and the agony of the spear. He was 
deeply afflicted, also, for the friends he left behind 
him and for a dying world. But in his inner and 
higher nature, where he felt himself sustained by the 

185 



Honey from Many Hives 

secret voice uttered in his sanctified conscience and 
in his unchangeable faith, he was peaceful and 
happy. 

Evil is changed into good when it is received in 
patience through the love of God; while good is 
changed into evil when we become attached to it 
through the love of self. 

With the exception of sin, nothing happens in this 
world out of the will of God. It is he who is the 
author, ruler, and bestower of all ; he has numbered 
the hairs of our head, the leaves of every tree, the 
sand upon the seashore, and the drops of the ocean. 

This is the whole of religion : to get out of self 
in order to get into God. 

One of the cardinal rules of the spiritual life is 
that we are to live exclusively in the present mo- 
ment, without casting a look beyond. 

We must imitate Jesus — live as he lived, think as 
he thought, and be conformed to his image, which 
is the seal of our sanctification. To be a Christian 
is to be an imitator of Jesus Christ. In what can 
we imitate him if not in his humiliation? Nothing 
else can bring us near to him. We may adore him 
as omnipotent, fear him as just, love him with all 
our heart as good and merciful, but we can only 
imitate him as humble, submissive, poor, and de- 
spised. 

What men stand most in need of is the knowledge 
of God. It is not astonishing that men do so little 
186 



Fenelon 

for God, and that the little which they do costs them 
so much. They do not know him; scarcely do they 
believe that he exists. If he were known he would 
be loved. 

Thou causest me clearly to understand that Thou 
makest use of the evils and imperfections of the 
creature to do the good which thou hast determined 
beforehand. Thou concealest thyself under the im- 
portunate visitor who intrudes upon the occupation 
of thine impatient child, that he may learn not to 
be impatient, and that he may die to the gratification 
of being free to study or work as he pleases. Thou 
availest thyself of slanderous tongues to destroy the 
reputation of thine innocent children, that, beside 
their innocence, they may offer thee the sacrifice of 
their too highly cherished reputation. By the cun- 
ning artifices of the envious, thou layest low the 
fortunes of those whose hearts were too much set 
upon their prosperity. Thus thou mercifully strewest 
bitterness over everything that is not thyself, to the 
end that our hearts, formed to love thee and to exist 
upon thy love, may be, as it were, constrained to 
return to thee by a want of satisfaction in every- 
thing else. 

187 



Honey from Many Hives 



THOMAS C UPHAM, 

The Rev. Thomas Cogswell Upham, D.D., 
was born in Deerfield, N. H., January 30, 1799, and 
died in New York, April 2, 1872. Graduating at 
Dartmouth College in 1818, and Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary in 1821, he was for a time an 
assistant instructor in the latter school, and for two 
years was pastor of the Congregational church in 
Rochester, N. H. But his life was mainly spent at 
Bowdoin College, Maine, where he was professor of 
mental and moral philosophy from 1825 to 1867. 

He was a prolific writer. His Elements of Men- 
tal Philosophy, in two volumes, 1839, was for a long 
time a standard work. It is with his religious pro- 
ductions, however, that we have chiefly to do, and it 
is by these, we think, that he will be longest known. 

The full title of the first (issued in 1843, " to a *d 
in promoting holy living") was, Principles of the 
Interior or Hidden Life, designed particularly for 
the Consideration of Those who are Seeking Assur- 
ance of Faith and Perfect Love. In 1845 appeared 
the second, entitled The Life of Faith, in three parts, 
embracing some of the Scriptural Principles or Doc- 
trines of Faith, the Power or Effects of Faith in the 
Regulation of Man's Inward Nature, and the Re- 
lation of Faith to the Divine Guidance. In this 
same year, 1845, was issued the Life of Madame 
188 



Thomas C. Upham 

Catharine Adorna, including some Leading Facts 
and Traits in her Religions Experience, together 
with Explanations and Remarks tending to Illus- 
trate the Doctrine of Holiness. Next, in two vol- 
umes, 1846, came the Life and Religious Opinions 
and Experience of Madame de la Mo the Guy on; to- 
gether with some Account of the Personal History 
and Religious Opinions of Fenelon, Archbishop of 
Cambray. Along the same general line, in 1851, 
came A Treatise on Divine Union, designed to point 
out some of the Intimate Relations between God and 
Man in the Higher Forms of Religious Experience. 
This passed through five editions in a few years. 
Of less importance are Religious Maxims (1854), 
Method of Prayer (1859), Christ in the Soul 
(1872), and The Absolute Religion (1872). 

The characteristics of all these books are much 
the same. The author displays in them all the 
power of close analysis and clear statement that 
might be expected from a professor of mental phi- 
losophy. He shows also an intimate acquaintance 
with the great devotional writers of the past, quota- 
tions from whom have been given in these pages. 
Very great numbers of people have been exceed- 
ingly benefited by reading these works. They be- 
long to a past generation, and are now for the most 
part out 'of print, but occasionally a copy can be 
found. The extracts we furnish will suffice to indi- 
cate the style. And though the ideas are not specific- 

189 



Honey from Many Hives 

ally different from those already presented, a some- 
what different putting will lend them freshness, and 
repetition will emphasize the truth. 



EVERY EVENT A PROVIDENCE. 

Whatever takes place, sin only excepted, is to be 
regarded as expressive, in some important and posi- 
tive sense, of the will of the Lord. The controlling 
presence of the Almighty is there. God is in it. 
Whatever takes place, with the exception of sin, is 
not only a portion in the great series of events, but 
takes place in accordance with the well-considered 
and divinely ordered arrangement or plan of things. 
Accordingly, everything which takes place indicates, 
all things considered, the mind of God in that par- 
ticular thing. And hence we may be said to reach, 
through the divine providences, a portion of the 
divine mind, and to become acquainted with it. 

Until the divine intimations within are cleared 
up and illustrated by the subsequent openings of 
providence, it seems to me to be the duty of Chris- 
tians to remain in the attitude of patient expecta- 
tion and of humble and quiet faith. This doctrine 
strikes at the root of too great eagerness of spirit, 
and of all inordinate self -activity. He who would 
walk with God must walk in God's order. God not 
only requires us to obey and serve him, but to obey 
and serve him in his own time and way. A soul 
190 



Thomas C Upham 

wholly devoted to" God will always endeavor to move 
calmly, yet firmly and exactly, in the blessed order 
of the divine providences; neither prematurely and 
excitedly hastening in advance, nor yet sluggishly 
and carelessly lagging behind. 

The existence of an undue eagerness and excite- 
ment of spirit is an evidence that w r e are, in some 
degree, afraid to trust God, and that we are still too 
much under the influence of the life of nature. So 
that to . cease from the activity of nature, when 
properly understood, seems to be nothing more nor 
less than to cease from the spirit of self-wisdom, 
self-seeking, and self-guidance, and thus to remain 
in submissive and peaceful simplicity and disengage- 
ment of spirit, in order that God may enter in, and 
may guide us by the wisdom of his own divine 
inspiration. 

It is the rejection of the doctrine of providence 
considered as entering into particulars which con- 
stitutes one of the great evils, the practical atheism, 
perhaps we may call it, of the age in which we live. 
It is true, undoubtedly, that men, with but few ex- 
ceptions, admit the existence of a God ; but they do 
not admit, except in a very mitigated and imperfect 
sense, his presence and supervision. 

As the law of providence is only another expres- 
sion for God's will as that will is exhibited in con- 
nection with his providences, the man who lives in 
conformity with providence necessarily lives in con- 
13 191 



Honey from Many Hives 

formity with God. It is only when we are in this 
position that we may be said to walk with God ; and 
walking with God is union with God. To be in 
harmony with God's providence we must be in har- 
mony with everything, not excepting the material 
world. It is true that things inanimate have no life 
in themselves, but they are the residence of a living 
mind. We might almost say, in a mitigated sense 
of the terms, that everything, not excluding objects 
the most remote from moral intelligence, becomes 
God to us. There is no grass, no flower, no tree, no 
insect, no creeping thing, no singing bird, nothing 
which does not bring God with it, and in such a 
manner that the thing which we behold becomes a 
clear and bright revelation of that which is invisible. 

The event, painful as it is and criminal as it is 
under some circumstances, is nevertheless a mani- 
festation of God ; and not of a God absent, but of a 
God present. And happy is the man that can receive 
this. To be out of harmony with these things, acts, 
and events which God in his providence has seen fit 
to array around us — that is to say, not to meet them 
in a humble, believing, and thankful spirit — is to 
turn from God. 

Everything which occurs, with the exception of 
sin, takes place — and yet without infringing on 
moral liberty — in the divinely appointed order and 
arrangement of things, and is an expression, within 
its own appropriate limits, of the divine will. And 
192 



Thomas C. Upham 

consequently, in its relations to ourselves personally 
and individually, it is precisely that condition of 
things which is best suited to try and to benefit our 
own state. On a moment's reflection it will be seen 
that this important principle raises us at once above 
all subordinate creatures, and places us in the most 
intimate connection with God himself. It makes 
the occurrences of every moment, to an important 
extent, a manifestation of God's will, and conse- 
quently, in every such occurrence, it makes God 
himself essentially present to us. Every event com- 
ing within the range of our cognizance necessarily 
brings God and our souls together. And it natu- 
rally follows from this view that everything which 
takes place, whatever it may be, inasmuch as it is 
a revelation, within its appropriate limits, of God's 
presence and God's will, should be met in the spirit 
of acquiescence, meekness, and entire resignation. 

Faith aids the soul by calling to its remembrance, 
and by establishing its belief, that all events, includ- 
ing w T hat are called evils, make a part in God's 
providences. We sometimes err by limiting the 
sphere of providential arrangements. These ar- 
rangements extend to everything which does not 
interfere with the claims of moral agency. They 
include mind as well as matter. It is an important 
truth, though not always recognized, that mental 
trials, as well as those which are purely physical, 
may have their origin from God. 

i93 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

The form of faith which is especially necessary 
in order to live the life of faith is that which makes 
God present, moment by moment, either permis- 
sively or causatively, in any and all events which 
take place. O that we might learn the great lesson 
(the lesson absolutely indispensable to him who 
would experience the highest results of the inward 
life) of beholding God, either in his direct efficiency 
or his permissive and controlling guardianship, as 
present in all things, whether high or low, of what- 
ever name or nature! Without taking this view of 
his presence we deprive ourselves of that great 
Center where the soul finds rest. We are tossed and 
agitated by passing events. Everything is per- 
plexed, mysterious, and hopeless. 

BEST PROOF OF PERFECT LOVE. 

When there is an entire and cordial acquiescence 
in the will of God, both to do and to suffer, we have 
the most important and satisfactory mark that our 
love is perfect. The nature of the human mind is 
such that we never can have an entire and cordial 
acquiescence in the will of God in all things without 
an antecedent approval of and complacency in his 
character and administration. 

It was one of the sayings of the devout Francis 
Xavier that "the perfection of the creature consists 
in willing nothing but the will of the Creator." 
What other idea of perfection of love can we have? 
i94 



Thomas C. Upham 

This is the true mark of perfection in Christian love, 
namely, an entire coincidence of our own wills with 
the will of God ; a full and hearty substitution of the 
divine mind in the place of our own minds ; the re- 
jection of the natural principle of life, which is love 
terminating in self, and the adoption of the heavenly 
principle of life, which is love terminating and ful- 
filled in God; in other words, the expulsion of self 
from the heart, and the enthronement of God there 
as its everlasting sovereign. This view, so impor- 
tant practically as well as theologically, seems to be 
confirmed by what the Saviour says of himself in a 
number of passages (John vi, 38; John iv, 34; Heb. 
x, 9; Mark iii, 34, 35 ; Matt vii, 21). 

THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. 

Some of the traits of character which are con- 
spicuous in the life of our Saviour : He was a man 
of sympathy. He was susceptible of, and actually 
formed, to some extent, personal friendships and 
intimacies. He exhibited and valued intellectual 
culture. I have sometimes thought that persons of 
flighty conceptions and vigorous enthusiasm would 
regard the Saviour, if he were now on the earth, as 
too calm and gentle, too thoughtful and intellectual, 
too free from impulsive and excited agitations, to be 
reckoned with those who are often considered the 
most advanced in religion. 

The life of the Saviour was characterized by the 

i95 



Hoxey from Many Hives 



spirit of entire consecration. He lived by simple 
faith. He never doubted. Faith sustained him in 
trial as well as in duty; in the depths of affliction 
as well as in the active labors of his ministry. He 
was a man of prayer. He was conscientiously and 
strictly faithful in whatever the Father committed 
into his hands to do. "He pleased not himself." 
In the various companies in which he mingled he 
never forgot the great mission on which he came. 
Fie was not, however, prematurely zealous and ob- 
trusive. He realized that everything, when done in 
accordance with the will of his heavenly Father (a 
will which can never be at variance with the highest 
rationality), must necessarily have its right time 
and place. 

He exhibited in his daily deportment a very meek, 
humble, and quiet disposition of mind. In the pos- 
session of the inestimable trait of meekness and 
quietness of spirit let all who seek the highest degree 
of purification and sanctification of heart be imi- 
tators of the example of Jesus Christ. The life of 
the Saviour was characterized by a proportionate 
fitness or symmetry in all its parts. 

In all cases of true holiness, without exception, 
there must be, and there is. the image of Christ at 
the bottom. The soul becomes an "infant Jesus," 
and like its all-perfect prototype it will grow in 
"wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and 
man/' 
196 



Thomas C. Upham 

SPIRITUAL FREEDOM. 

The person is not in the enjoyment of true liberty 
of spirit who is wanting in the disposition of accom- 
modation to others in things which are not of special 
importance. And this is the case when we need- 
lessly insist upon having everything done in our 
own time and manner ; when Ave are troubled about 
little things which are in themselves indifferent, and 
think, perhaps, more of the position of a chair than 
of the salvation of a soul ; when we find a difficulty 
in making allowance for the constitutional differ- 
ences in others which it may not be either easy or 
important for them to correct; when we find our- 
selves disgusted because another does not express 
himself in entire accordance with our principles of 
taste; or when we are displeased and dissatisfied 
w T ith his religious or other performances, although 
we know he does the best he can. All these things, 
and many others like them, give evidence of a mind 
that has not entered into the broad and untrammeled 
domain of spiritual freedom. 

The person who is disturbed and impatient when 
events fall out differently from what he expected 
and anticipated is not in the enjoyment of true 
spiritual freedom. In accordance with the great 
idea of God's perfect sovereignty the man of a re- 
ligiously free spirit regards "all events which take 
place, sin only excepted, as an expression, under the 
existing circumstances, of the will of God. And 

197 



Honey from Many Hives 

such is his unity with the divine will that there is 
an immediate acquiescence in the event, whatever 
may be its nature, and however afflicting in its per- 
sonal bearings. His mind has acquired, as it were, 
a divine flexibility, in virtue of which it accommo- 
dates itself with surprising ease and readiness to all 
the developments of Providence, whether prosper- 
ous or adverse. 

The person who enjoys true liberty of spirit is the 
most deliberate and cautious in doing what he is 
most desirous to do. This arises from the fact that 
he is very much afraid of being out of the line of 
God's will and order. He distrusts and examines 
closely all strong desires and strong feelings gener- 
ally, especially if they agitate his mind and render 
it somewhat uncontrollable. Not merely because 
the feelings are strong, but because there is reason 
to fear that some of nature's fire has mingled with 
the holy and peaceable flame of divine love. 

Freedom consists not in having things in our own 
way, but in the right way, which is God's way. And 
this includes not only the thing done, but the manner 
of doing it, and also the time. True liberty of spirit 
is found only in those who, in the language of De 
Sales, "keep the heart totally disengaged from every 
created thing, in order that they may follow the 
known will of God." 

Spiritual liberty consists in passively, yet intel- 
ligently and approvingly, following the leadings of 
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Thomas C. Upham 

the Holy Ghost. It is like a little child that reposes 
in simplicity and in perfect confidence on the bosom 
of its beloved mother. It implies, with the fact of 
entire submission to God, the great and precious 
reality of interior emancipation. He who is spiritu- 
ally free is free in God. And he may, perhaps, be 
said to be free in the same sense in which God is, 
who is free to do everything right and nothing 
wrong. 

ABSOLUTE SURRENDER. 

The prostration of our own will, in such a sense 
that it shall not in any respect oppose itself to the 
will of God, seems to be the completion or consum- 
mation of those various interior processes by which 
the heart is purified. The moment our faith in God 
wavers, that moment we begin to form our own 
plans and set up our own wills. So that we can have 
no hesitancy in saying that a will perfectly coinci- 
dent with the will of God is at the same time the 
natural result and the highest evidence of a sancti- 
fied heart. When the will in its personal or self- 
interested operation is entirely prostrated, so that 
we can say with the Saviour, "Lo, I come to do thy 
will," then the wall of spiritual separation is taken 
away, and the soul may be said, through the open 
entrance, to find a passage, as it were, into God him- 
self, and to become one with him in a mysterious 
but holy and glorious union. 

The person whose will is entirely subdued, so as 

199 



Honey from Many Hives 

to be one with the divine will, will discover an un- 
ruffled meekness and quietness of spirit when called 
in the divine providence to endure the smaller and 
more frequent inconveniences and vexations of life. 
Nor is the evidence which is thus presented of an 
entire subjection of the will to be regarded as incon- 
siderable and unimportant. It is truly sad and 
humiliating to see many who, in the comparative 
sense of the term, are good Christians, that are, 
nevertheless, uneasy, and are inwardly and out- 
wardly vexed, on many trivial occasions. 

The man whose will has passed from his own 
unsafe keeping into the high custody of a divine 
direction has no disposition to complain when God, 
in his holy providence, in depriving him of health, of 
property, and friends, has laid waste his fairest 
earthly prospects. He endures also in quietness and 
silence of spirit misrepresentations and persecutions. 
Strong in a faith which has become habitual to him, 
he sees everything in its relation to the divine mind. 
He regards the persecutions he endures as the lot 
which God has appointed to him, and as such he 
rejoices in it. 

The man who has experienced the practical an- 
nihilation of his own will does everything and suf- 
fers everything precisely in the order of God's 
providence. It is the present moment, considered as 
indicating the divine arrangement of things, which 
furnishes the truest and safest test of character. It 
200 



Thomas C. Upham 

is necessary to keep our eye fixed upon God's order. 
We must do this in relation to our place and situa- 
tion in life, whatever it may be; not murmuring at 
our supposed ill lot, not giving way to any eager 
desires of change, but remaining quietly and humbly 
just where God has seen fit to place us. 

DEGREES OF DIVINE UNION. 

The first degree may be described as union with 
the divine will in submission. It is the union of 
simple acquiescence rather than of positive desire; 
the union of submission to suffering rather than 
of love to suffering. The fact of obedience, how- 
ever sincere and true the obedience itself may be, 
does not prevent their saying, with equal truth, that 
it is hard for nature to yield to it. There is sub- 
mission in fact, but a submission which costs a 
struggle in the beginning, and watchfulness and 
struggles in the maintenance of it. 

The second degree may be described as union 
with the divine will with choice. We not only sub- 
mit, but submission is our pleasure, our delight. 
The endurance of loss and suffering is not, and can- 
not ordinarily be, so great as to prevent a true and 
substantial joy of the heart. It is said of the early 
Christians not merely that they submitted to suffer- 
ing with patience, but that they rejoiced that they 
were accounted worthy to suffer for the name of 
Jesus ( Acts v, 41). 

201 



Honey from Many Hives 

This last state of mind may assume a new char- 
acter, and may present the union of the will in a 
new aspect, by becoming invigorated and perfected 
by habit. It may ultimately become so well estab- 
lished and strong that the effect of antecedent evil 
habits, which generally remains for a long time and 
greatly perplexes the full sway of holiness in the 
heart, shall be done away entirely. And this is not 
all. In the course of time our perceptions of the 
transcendent beauty and excellence of the will of 
God may become so increased in clearness and 
strength that the pleasure of doing and suffering his 
will, increased in the same proportion, may entirely 
absorb and take away our sense of suffering. The 
suffering will be lost in the joy. "Death," a name 
which includes all temporal evil, "will be swallowed 
up in victory/ 9 

RECEIVING BY FAITH. 

On the true doctrine of holy living, namely, by 
faith, we go to God in the exercise of faith, believ- 
ing that he will hear ; and we return from him in the 
exercise of the same faith, believing that he has 
heard, and that the answer exists and is regis- 
tered in the divine mind, although we do not know 
what it is, and perhaps shall never be permitted to 
know. 

If we truly and humbly ask for wisdom to guide 
us, and at the same time, of course, employ all those 
rational powers which God has given us, it becomes 
202 



Thomas C. Upham 

our privilege and our duty, in accordance with the 
doctrines of the life of faith, to believe fully and 
firmly that God does in fact answer, and that in the 
sanctified exercise of the powers which are given us 
we truly have that degree of wisdom which is best 
for us in the present case. This, whether we are 
conscious of any new light on the subject or not. 
Even if we are left in almost total ignorance on the 
topic of our inquiry, we have the high satisfaction 
of knowing that we are placed in this position be- 
cause God sees that a less degree of light is better 
in our case than a greater. 

The system which requires a present and visible 
or ascertained answer, in distinction from the sys- 
tem of faith, which believes that it has an answer 
but does not require God to make it known till he 
sees best to make it known, is full of danger. It 
tends to self-confidence, because it implies that we 
can command God, and make him unlock the secrets 
of his hidden counsels whenever we please. It tends 
to self-delusion, because we are always liable to mis- 
take the workings of our own imaginations, or our 
own feelings, or the intimations of Satan, for the 
true voice of God. It tends to cause jealousies and 
divisions in the Church of Christ, because he who 
supposes that he has a specific or known answer, 
which is the same, so far as it goes, as a specific 
revelation, is naturally bound and led by such sup- 
position, and thus is oftentimes led to strike out a 

203 



Honey from Many Hives 

course for himself which is at variance with the 
feelings and judgments of his brethren. Incalcula- 
ble are the evils which, in every age of the Christian 
history, have resulted from this source. 

On the contrary, the disposition to know only 
what God would have us know, and to leave the 
dearest objects of our hearts in the sublime keeping 
of the general and unspecific belief that God is now 
answering our prayers in his own time and way, 
and in the best manner, involves a present process 
of inward crucifixion which is obviously unfavor- 
able to the growth, and even existence, of the life 
of self. 

Faith in its relation to the subject of it is truly a 
light in the soul, but it is a light that shines only 
upon duties, and not upon results or events. It tells 
us what is now to be done, but it does not tell us 
what is to follow. And accordingly it guides us but 
a step at a time. And when we take that step under 
the guidance of faith we advance directly into a land 
of surrounding shadows and darkness. Like the 
patriarch Abraham, we go, not knowing whither we 
go, but only that God is with us. In man's dark- 
ness we nevertheless walk and live in God's light, 
a way of living which may well be styled blessed 
and glorious, however mysterious it may be to 
human vision. Indeed, it is the only life worth pos- 
sessing, the only true life. "Believe in the Lord 
your God, so shall ye be established/' 
204 



Thomas C. Upham 

LIVING BY THE MOMENT. 

W e are not at liberty to attach ourselves strongly 
to plans of action. We ought to sit loosely to every- 
thing except the present moment. We ought not to 
permit our affections to become enlisted, as they are 
very apt to be. We should enter upon the plan in 
accordance with God's will; we should advance step 
by step in accordance with his will ; and without the 
least emotion of disappointment or displeasure we 
should stop in accordance with his will; which we 
cannot well do if we let our affections go in advance 
of the divine moment, which is the present moment, 
and cleave to objects which have not as yet received 
the divine sanction. 

No man lives well who lives out of the will of 
God. No man lives in the will of God who antici- 
pates the divine moment, or moment of actual duty, 
by making up a positive decision before it arrives 
or by delaying a decision until after its departure.. 
If, therefore, we would live in the will of God we 
must conform to that beautiful and sacred order in 
which his will is made known ; we must live by the 
moment. 

This doctrine keeps the mind fixed to God alone. 
Every moment presents our blessed Maker before 
us, with the facts of his providence all arranged and 
convergent to one point, and requiring of us as 
moral agents a prompt decision. God is in that 
moment as it arrives; his unseen presence is em- 

205 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

bodied in that small point of time; he speaks to us 
in the still small voice; if we hear, and reply with 
correspondent heart and action, it is well; if we do 
not listen and obey he is gone from us; and an 
eternity to come cannot remedy the loss of that one 
moment. 

It is a result of these principles that they preserve 
us from the very considerable evil of reflex acts of 
mind; that is to say, of frequent and unnecessary 
returns of the mind upon itself in the form of self- 
inquiry, of self-condemnation, or of self-gratulation. 
and in other ways which might be mentioned. This 
result seems to follow from the fact that, on the 
system of living by the moment, the mind always 
has before itself a present object, and that the object 
fully occupies and absorbs the mind, because God 
himself is present in it. 

god's guidance. 

In many cases, where the motives which are pre- 
sented are various and the paths of action are 
divergent, it is not easy for us to know, with absolute 
certainty, what course of action will most fully 
accord with the divine will. Constituted as we are at 
present, we may well pronounce it impossible to 
have such knowledge except by means of a specific 
revelation given in each case. And we may even 
go further and say. it is not the design of our heav- 
enly Father that in matters of this kind we should 
206 



Thomas C. Upham 



always have a knowledge which is positive, and 
should always walk in a vision which is open. This 
is not God's plan of action. We must, in a consider- 
able degree at least, live by faith. 

The prayer for divine direction, offered up in the 
spirit of consecration, which implies a heart wholly 
given to God, and offered up also in entire faith, 
which receives the promises of God without waver- 
ing, necessarily involves the result that the course 
taken, whether it be conformed to natural wisdom 
or not, and is attended with the best natural results 
or not, is morally the right course, and is entirely 
acceptable to God. A man in that state of mind may 
commit a physical or prudential error; he may per- 
haps take a course which will be followed by the 
loss of his property, or an injury to his person, but 
he cannot commit a moral error. That is to say, he 
cannot commit an error which, under the adjust- 
ments and pledges of the Gospel, will bring him into 
a state of moral condemnation and separate him 
from God's favor. 

In acting in accordance with the results which we 
thus obtain we always and necessarily accomplish 
the will of God. We know his will, while in a cer- 
tain sense we may be said to be ignorant of it; 
because it is his will that we should live and act by 
faith without knowledge. "I adore all thy pur- 
poses/'' says Fenelon, "without knowing them." 
This is the great work of holiness, to do the will of 
14 207 



Honey from Many Hives 



God, while we know it, and can know it, only in 
part. Living by faith without knowledge is living 
in the truest divine light. When we are led in the 
way of faith we are led by God himself; and it is 
impossible for God, by means of spiritual operations, 
to lead his people in a way which is contrary to his 
will. 

To the question, How shall we know the will 
of God specifically, or in particular cases? our 
answer is that God always meets us with a specific 
revelation of his will in the events or providences of 
the present moment. In other words, the events of 
God's providence, just so far as they give us infor- 
mation at all, are to be regarded as an expression 
of his will. And so far as they do not give us 
information of themselves they furnish a basis of 
information which may be deduced from them. 

Consequently we are not at liberty to pronounce 
what the will of God is, in relation to a course of 
action, until the present moment, as we may con- 
veniently designate the precise period of action, has 
come. In order to know what is right and duty we 
must have all the facts ; but no moment, antecedent 
to the present moment, or the precise moment of 
action, can give them. This is a state of things 
which has the obvious advantage of being opposed 
to self-confidence and rash judgments, and of being 
favorable to forbearance, charity, and humility. 
Hence it is that very holy men, in a multitude of 
208 



Thomas C. Upham 

cases, defer their judgments, while others, less holy, 
are prompt in deciding. 

RELIGIOUS MAXIMS. 

In whatever you are called upon to do endeavor 
to maintain a calm, collected, and prayerful state of 
mind. 

Let the heart be fully united with the will of God, 
and we shall be entirely contented with those cir- 
cumstances in which Providence has seen fit to place 
us, however unpropitious they may be in a w r orldly 
point of view. He who gains the victory over him- 
self gains the victory over all his enemies. 

It may sometimes be practically important to 
make a distinction between a renunciation of the 
world and a renunciation of ourselves. A mere 
crucifixion of the outward world may still leave a 
vitality and luxuriance of the selfish principle; but 
a crucifixion of self necessarily involves the cruci- 
fixion of everything else. 

It is one among the pious and valuable maxims 
which are ascribed to Francis de Sales, "A judicious 
silence is always better than truth spoken without 
charity." The very undertaking to instruct or cen- 
sure others implies an assumption of moral or 
intellectual superiority. It cannot be expected, there- 
fore, that the attempt will he well received unless it 
is tempered with a heavenly spirit. 

Perhaps we may say it is the highest attainment 

209 



Honey from Many Hives 

of the soul (certainly it is the foundation of the 
highest or perfect state), that of entire and un- 
wavering confidence in God. 

Always make it a rule to do everything in the best 
manner, and to the best of your ability. An imper- 
fect execution of a thing which we might have done 
better is not only unprofitable, but it is a vicious 
execution; it is morally wrong. 

A fixed, inflexible will is a great assistance in a 
holy life. He who is easily shaken will find the way 
of holiness difficult, perhaps impracticable. Ye who 
walk in the narrow way, let your resolution be 
unalterable. 

When on a certain occasion the pious Fenelon, 
after having experienced much trouble and persecu- 
tion from his opposers, was advised by some one to 
take greater precautions against the artifices and 
evil designs of men, he made answer, in the true 
spirit of a Christian, "Let us die in our simplicity." 
He that is wholly in Christ has a oneness and purity 
of purpose altogether inconsistent with those tricks 
and subterfuges w T hich are so common among men. 
He walks in broad day. He goes forth in the light 
of conscious honesty. He is willing that men and 
angels should read the very bottom of his heart. He 
has but one rule : "My Father, what wilt thou have 
me to do?" 

It is important to make a distinction between sor- 
row and impatience. We may feel sorrow without 



Thomas C. Upham 

sin, but we can never feel impatience without sin. 
Impatience always involves a want of submission; 
and he who is wanting in submission, even in the 
smallest degree, is not perfect before God. 

Many profess religion ; many, we may charitably 
hope, possess religion ; but few, very few, if we may 
judge from appearances, are aiming with all their 
powers at perfection in religion. Nevertheless it is 
only upon this last class that the Saviour looks with 
unmingled approbation. 

If we would walk perfectly before God we must 
endeavor to do common things, such as are of every 
day's occurrence and of but small account in the eyes 
of the world, in a perfect manner. 

It will help us to ascertain whether we are truly 
humble if we inquire whether we are free from the 
opposites of humility. The opposites of a humble 
state of mind are impatience, uneasiness, a feeling 
that something — perhaps much — depends on our- 
selves, undue sensitiveness to the praise and reproof 
of men, and censoriousness. 

A state of suffering furnishes the test of love. 
When God is pleased to bestow his favors upon us, 
How can we tell whether we love him for what he is, 
or for what he gives? But wdien in seasons of deep 
and varied afflictions our heart still clings to him as 
our only hope and joy, we may well say, "Thou 
knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." 

A consecration deliberately made, including all 

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Honey from Many Hives 

our acts, powers, and possessions, of body, mind, 
and estate; made without any reserve either in ob- 
jects, time, or place; embracing trial and suffering 
as well as action ; never to be modified and never to 
be withdrawn, and which contemplates its fulfill- 
ment in divine and not in human strength, neces- 
sarily brings one into a new relationship with God, of 
the most intimate, interesting, and effective nature. 

We are not to desire anything whatever out of 
the will of God. In other words, if we find a prefer- 
ence or choice in ourselves, in such a manner as to 
lead us to desire one thing rather than another irre- 
spective of the will of God, we may justly conclude 
that the state of mind of wdiich we are then the sub- 
jects is a selfish and natural state, and not a truly 
religious and divine state. It is to be rejected; and 
the mind is to remain without desire until the will 
of God can be revealed and take effect in us. 

Quietness of spirit, originating in the operations 
of divine grace, is the sign of truth or rectitude of 
spirit, and also of a right cause of action. And, on 
the other hand, a spirit disturbed, a spirit in a state 
of agitation, is the sign of a wrong done or pro- 
posed to be done. Accordingly, in any proposed 
course of action, if it cannot be entered upon with 
entire quietness of spirit, with a soul so entirely calm 
that, in its measure, it may be said to reflect un- 
brokenly the image of God, then the probability is 
that the course proposed to be taken is wrong, or, 



Thomas C. Upham 

at least, of a doubtful character; and our true and 
safe course is to delay until we can obtain further 
light in regard to it. 

He whose life is hid with Christ in God may suf- 
fer injustice from the conduct or words of another, 
but he can never suffer loss. He sees the hand of 
God in everything. 

It is a sign that our wills are not wholly lost in the 
will of God when we are much in the habit of using 
words which imply election or choice, such as, I 
want this, or, I want that; I hope it will be so, or, 
I hope it will be otherwise. 

A holy person often does the same things which 
are done by an unholy person, and yet the things 
done in the two cases are infinitely different in then- 
character. The one performs them in the will of 
God, the other in the will of the creature. 

Two things in particular are to be guarded against 
in all the variety of their forms, namely, creature 
love and self-will ; in other words, dependence upon 
self and dependence upon our fellow-men. 

No person can be considered as praying in sin- 
cerity for a specified object who does not employ all 
the appropriate natural means which he can to 
secure the object. 

The holv mind chooses to be, and loves to be, 
where it is, and has no disposition or desire to be 
anywhere else, till the providence of God clearly 
indicates that the time has come for a removal. 

213 



Honey from Many Hives 



FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER. 

It is not easy to write briefly either about Faber 
or his books. He had a most fascinating character 
and a most interesting history. His birth was in 
the vicarage of Calverley, Yorkshire, England, June 
28, 18 14. Educated at Oxford, where he obtained a 
scholarship and a fellowship, he was ordained dea- 
con in 1837 an d priest of the Church of England in 
1839. He became rector of Elton in 1843, and did 
his work there with the utmost diligence., producing 
a great reformation. But for ten or twelve years, 
partly through the natural bent of his mind, partly 
through the influences around him, he had been 
drawn steadily, irresistibly toward Romanism, and 
at length, after great mental struggles and the most 
intense desire to do only what was right, he was 
received, November 17, 1845, ' mto Roman 
Catholic Church. He had to make very great sacri- 
fices to carry out his convictions, but the result was 
peace, and he never doubted that he had been led 
of the Lord. 

His life as a Roman Catholic priest was an ex- 
tremely busy and useful one. At Birmingham he 
organized a community called "Brothers of the Will 
of God." In 1848 he joined the order of St. Philip 
under Dr. Newman, and from 1849 ^ ^' 1S death, in 
1862, he was at the head of the London branch, or 
214 



Frederick William Faber 

oratory, of this order. His labors in every possible 
direction were incessant and marvelously successful, 
though often broken in upon by serious illness. It 
is doubtful if any man ever had more of the true 
spirit of Jesus or brought his life closer to the 
divine model. He served his Master from love, with 
all his heart and might. He continually preached 
Jesus, and him crucified, in the simplest and most 
earnest way. He threw every ounce of his strength 
into his efforts to make men good and to extend the 
spirit of genuine holiness. His humility was most 
profound, his tenderness and forbearance extraor- 
dinary, his love overflowed all bounds of creed or 
condition. He was one of the most lovable men 
that ever lived. The charm of his manner, the 
kindliness of his heart, the genuineness of his sym- 
pathy, the brilliancy of his social powers, the ripe- 
ness of his worldly wisdom, and the unearthliness 
of his aims formed one of the rarest of combina- 
tions. His life from earliest childhood seems to 
have been deeply religious. He ever chose the 
higher path, putting self aside, and seeking only to 
glorify God. 

His writings are divisible into four classes, 
namely, the works that he translated and edited, the 
books that he composed in prose, his hymns and 
poems, and the religious letters in which he replied 
to the multitude of applications made to him for 
spiritual counsel. It is perhaps by the hymns that 

215 



Honey from Many Hives 

he will longest live ; certainly by them more than by 
anything else he is known to the Protestant world. 
He was a genuine poet, and the poet of the higher 
spiritual life more than any other person of modern 
times. The surpassing beauty and spiritual depth 
of many of his hymns are recognized by all who 
have any power to appreciate these things. The 
religious experience which is voiced in them shows 
that none but a Christian of maturest piety could 
have penned them, and the elegance of the style 
proves that a master hand has been at work. It may 
well be said that such great gifts, of piety and poetry 
alike, were rarely before so harmoniously and com- 
pletely joined. 

His great prose works, from which the following 
extracts are taken, consist of eight solid, close- 
printed volumes, which were issued in the short 
space of eight years — 1853 to i860, inclusive. And 
all this time he was diligently occupied with an 
amount of other work quite sufficient for an ordi- 
nary man, to say nothing of the frequent illnesses 
and the constant pain under which he had to bear 
up as best he could. A severe attack of illness infal- 
libly followed the completion of each of his books. 
We can only give here the bare titles of the eight. 
All for Jesus, or the Easy Ways of Divine Love; 
Growth 'in Holiness, or the Progress of the Spirit- 
ual Life; The Blessed Sacrament, or the Works and 
Ways of God; The Creator and the Creature, or the 
216 



Frederick William Faber 

Wonders of Divine Love; The Foot of the Cross; 
Spiritual Conferences; The Precious Blood; Beth- 
lehem. They are all notable for the beauty of their 
style, their accuracy of theological statement, their 
intimate knowledge of the human heart, and the 
intensity of the devotion to God which they every- 
where inculcate. They sprang at once into great 
popularity, and hundreds of thousands of copies 
have been sold in England, Europe, and America. 

A small volume on Faber, containing a full sketch 
of his life, together with all of his best hymns and 
extended selections from his prose works, was 
issued a few years ago by the author of this book, 
and may be procured of him (for fifty cents) by 
anyone wishing to pursue this fascinating theme. 



THE GLORY OF GOD. 

Blessed be God ! There are many souls to whom 
his glory is the passion of their lives. The worth 
of everything to them is simply its capability of 
glorifying God, and nothing more. Their choice 
of means and ends is guided by this same propen- 
sion. Their happiness is their success in this single 
matter. To them life is a matter of one fact ; and all 
truths resolve themselves into one, and that is the 
immense worthiness of God to be loved; and it 
seems as if a necessity were laid upon them to see 
that he should be infinitely loved even by finite 
creatures. 

217 



Honey from Many Hives 

When we study our blessed Lord as he is repre- 
sented to us in the Gospels, nothing, if we may ven- 
ture to use such an expression, seems so like a ruling 
passion in him as his longing for his Father's glory. 

While the saints differ in almost everything else, 
there are three things in which they all agree; and 
these are: (i) Eagerness for the glory of God; 
(2) Touchiness about the interests of Jesus; (3) 
Anxiety for the salvation of souls. 

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 

Fenelon observed long ago that the general laws 
of nature are, after all, not so much manifestations 
of God's presence and perfection as the screen to 
hide both one and the other. "Why," he asks, "has 
God established these general laws?" It is to hide 
under the veil of the regularity and uniform cause 
of nature his perpetual operation from the eyes of 
proud and corrupt men, while, on the other hand, 
he gives to pure and docile souls something which 
they may admire in all his works. 

Men little know how great and good a work it is 
which they are doing when they increase by ever so 
little another's knowledge of the Most High. They 
have not stopped one sin, but hundreds. They have 
not been the channels of one grace, but of thousands. 
The knowledge of God is the establishment of 
Christ's kingdom in the soul. How many would 
advance in the spiritual life who now stand still 
218 



Frederick William Faber 

because the divine perfections are not preached to 
them or do not make part of their spiritual reading ! 

God must be watched in order to be known ; and 
we must watch him on our knees, and in the lowest 
place within ourselves to which we can sink. Thus 
we shall learn much if we do not learn all. 

The magnificence of God is the abounding joy of 
life. It is an immense joy to belong to God. It is 
an immense joy to have such a God belonging to us. 
Like the joys of heaven, it is a joy new every morn- 
ing when we wake, as new as if we had never tasted 
of it before. Like the joys of earth, it is a joy every 
evening, resting and pacifying to the soul. 

All men remember their past lives by certain dates 
or epochs. Some men date by sorrows, some by 
joys, and some by moral changes or intellectual 
revolutions. But the real dates in a man's life are 
the days and hours in which it came to him to have 
some new ideas of God. To the thoughtful and the 
good all life is a continual growing revelation of 
God. Time itself discloses him. Old truths grow; 
obscure truths brighten. 

To know God and to understand his ways is the 
great end of life, and to walk in his presence is all 
sanctity. 

TRUST IN GOD. 

It is easier to love God than to trust in him. In 
human things it is not easy to doubt and yet to love, 
but in divine things it is not uncommon. The great- 

219 



Honey from Many Hives 

est defect in our worship of God is want of confi- 
dence in him. What can give us more confidence in 
God than the study of the precious blood! Who 
can doubt Jesus when he bleeds ? 

Confidence in God is the only real worship of God. 
Our confidence is our religion. It is the sweetness 
of life. It is worth our while to have lived if it 
were only to have known the delight of trusting in 
God. Many aim at perfection, and few attain it. 
In almost every case the reason of the failure is the 
want of confidence in God. 

Meditation on the attributes of God is one of the 
chief means of acquiring the grace of confidence. In 
order to have confidence we must know God, know 
him in Jesus Christ. 

Outward temptations help us. They frighten us 
away from self-trust. They make us better ac- 
quainted with our possibilities of sin. A much-tried 
man is always a man of unbounded faith, and of a 
confidence in God which looks, to us of lower faith, 
superstitious in little things and presumptuous in 
great ones. 

We also acquire confidence in God by exercising 
confidence. It produces itself, and multiplies itself, 
while it strengthens itself. Direct prayer for the 
grace is also an obvious means of its increase. 

A special devotion to the providence of God, 
which seems to have possessed the souls of some of 
the modern saints as a scarcely conscious protest 
220 



Frederick William Faber 

against a false philosophy, is another means of ac- 
quiring confidence in God. 

But, above all, the habit of working for God only, 
of doing our good for him, and caring little about 
its success, and of doing it secretly — which we in- 
stinctively do when we do it only for him — is the 
royal road to confidence in him. 

Happy is he who makes one other man trust God 
more than he did before. He has done a great and 
influential work in creation. Happy we, if we know 
how to trust God as he should be trusted. 

edification. 

We must never do anything in order to edify 
others, for the express purpose of edifying, which 
we should not have done except to edify them, and 
in the doing of which the motive of edification is 
supreme, if not solitary. Edification must never be 
our first thought. Look out to God, love his glory, 
hate yourself, and be simple, and you will shine- 
fortunately without knowing or thinking of it — 
with a Christlike splendor wherever you go and 
whatever you do. 

We must not make unseasonable allusions to re- 
ligion, or irritate by misplaced solemnity. An in- 
ward aspiration or momentary elevation of the soul 
to God will often do more, even for others, than the 
bearing of an open testimony which principle does 
not require, and at which offense will almost inevi- 

221 



Honey from Many Hives 

tably be taken. A man is annoyed at sacred things 
when they are unseasonably forced upon him; and 
thus even a well-meaning importunity may be a 
source of sin. 

We must bear in mind that there are very few 
who, by standing or advancement, are in any way 
called upon to correct their brethren, fewer still who 
are competent to do it sweetly and wisely, and none 
whose holiness is not tried to the utmost by its per- 
fect discharge. 

We may edify our neighbor in two ways : by the 
mortification of Jesus and by the sweetness of Jesus. 
Silence under unjust rebukes, abstinence from rash 
and peremptory judgments, not standing out in an 
ill-natured and pedantic way for our rights, obliging 
others unselfishly and with pains and trouble to our- 
selves, and not exaggerating in an obstinate and 
foolish manner points where all men have a right to 
their liberty — these are the ways in which we should 
practice the mortification of Jesus in our intercourse 
with others; and, independent of the edification we 
shall give thereby, the amount of interior perfection 
which we shall attain by these practices is beyond 
all calculation. For there is hardly a corrupt incli- 
nation, a secret pride, or a fold of self-love which 
they will not search and purify. 

The more earnestly we are striving to form Jesus 
in our hearts the more will his sweetness transpire 
through our features without our knowing it. Kind 

222 



Frederick William Faber 

and gentle words, such as those of our dear Lord, 
are an apostolate in themselves. Our manner, too, 
must be full of unction, and be of itself a means to 
attract men to us, and make them love the spirit 
which animates us. Coldness, absence of interest, 
an assumption of superiority for some unexpressed 
reasons, or even an obviousness of condescension, 
are not unfrequently to be found in pious persons. 
Sweetness is practiced when we praise all the good 
we can detect in others, even when it is mingled with 
w r hat is not so. A man who praises freely but not 
extravagantly is always influential in conversation, 
and can use his influence for the cause of God. A 
critical spirit, on the contrary, amuses by its smart- 
ness or frightens by its malignity; but it neither 
softens, attracts, persuades, nor rules. The practice 
of putting favorable interpretations upon dubious 
actions is another exercise of this Christlike sweet- 
ness. You will never practice it without having 
done some missionary work for the glory of God, 
although you know it not. 

LUKEWARM NESS. 

Lukewarmness is often nothing more than a 
clogging up of the avenues of the soul with sins of 
omission, so that the cool and salutary inundations 
of grace are hindered. The symptoms of lukewarm- 
ness are seven in number: first, a great facility in 
omitting our exercises of piety; second, negligence 
15 223 



Honey from Many Hives 

in those we do perform ; third, a feeling that we are 
not altogether right with God, joined with an un- 
willingness to vigorously face the inquiry as to just 
what is wrong, and to buckle to the triple task of dis- 
covery, punishment, and reformation; fourth, habit- 
ually acting without any intention at all, good, bad, 
or indifferent; fifth, carelessness about forming 
habits of virtue ; sixth, contempt of little things, and 
of daily opportunities; seventh, thinking rather of 
the good we have done than of the good we have left 
undone, resting on the past rather than striving for 
the future, loving to look at people below us rather 
than at people above us. 

Why does God hate lukewarmness so? (Rev. iii, 
15, 16.) Because it is a quiet, intentional apprecia- 
tion of other things over God. It cheapens God, and 
parts with him secondhand. It pretends friendship ; 
hence it involves the twofold guilt of treachery and 
hypocrisy. It thus has a peculiar ability to wound 
God's glory by the scandal it gives. It has God's 
honor in its power, and treats it shamefully and 
cruelly. It profanes grace by the indifference with 
which it misuses it. 

Remedies for lukewarmness : The only sure one 
is never to be lukewarm. Some others that may be 
mentioned: To quicken faith by meditation on 
eternal truths; to have fewer things to do; to per- 
severe in our spiritual exercises in spite of dryness 
and distractions; to talk less, and to mortify the flesh, 
224 



Frederick William Faber 

purity of intention. 

The only important thing in good works is the 
amount of love which we put into them. The soul 
of an action is its motive. The power of an action 
is neither in its size nor in its duration, but in its 
intention. An intention is pure in proportion as it 
is loving. What we want is not many actions, but 
a great momentum in a few actions. 

In good deeds we cannot unite number and mo- 
mentum. We make our election of momentum. 
Momentum is purity of intention. Purity of inten- 
tion is love. The saints were men who did less than 
other people, but who did what they had to do a 
thousand times better. They threw immense effort 
into their least actions. Immense efforts cannot help 
being limited in number. 

Have we ever done any one action which we are 
quite confident was done solely and purely for the 
love of God ? If we have, it has not been often re- 
peated. We are conscious to ourselves that there is 
a great admixture of earthly motives in our service 
of God. 

There is not a single thing we do all the day long 
which may not, and that quite easily, be made to 
advance the glory of God, the interests of Jesus, and 
the salvation of souls. If the heavenly motive enters 
into it, that moment it is all filled with God, and 
becomes a jewel of almost infinite price, with which 
the Divine Majesty condescends to be well pleased. 

225 



Honey from Many Hives 

We must do all our actions for God, referring 
them to him by an act of intention. We must mo- 
mentarily collect ourselves before acting, and try 
to touch lightly the beginning, middle, and end of 
each considerable action, and not throw away, as 
fish too small for the table, the little actions of the 
day. 

One sign that we are really working for God is, 
if we could say "Yes," did any one suddenly ask us 
if what we are doing is for God. Another is, if we 
are not uneasily anxious about the judgments men 
will pass upon our actions. A third is, if we are not 
wholly indifferent, but quite tranquil about success. 
A fourth is, if we take as much pains in private with 
what we are doing as in public before witnesses. A 
fifth is, if we are not jealous either of associating 
others with our works or of their equal or greater 
success. 

SIGNS OF PROGRESS. 

Five signs of progress in the spiritual life: (i) 
If we are discontented with our present state, what- 
ever it may be, and want to be something better and 
higher, we have great reason to be thankful to God. 
For such discontent is one of his best gifts, and a 
great sign that we are really making progress. But 
we must remember that our dissatisfaction with our- 
selves must be of such a nature as to increase our 
humility, and not such as to cause disquietude of 
mind or uneasiness in our devotional exercises. (2) 
226 



Frederick William Faber 

It is a sign of growth if we are always making new 
beginnings and fresh starts. These consist chiefly 
in two things : first, a renewal of our intention for 
the glory of God; and, secondly, a revival of our 
fervor. (3) It is a sign of progress when we have 
some definite thing in view; for instance, if we are 
trying to acquire the habit of some particular virtue, 
or to conquer some besetting infirmity. (4) It is 
a still greater sign that we are making progress if 
we have a strong feeling in our minds that God 
wants something particular from us. (5) I will 
venture to add that an increased general desire of 
being more perfect is not altogether without its 
value as a sign of progress — and that in spite of 
what I have said of the importance of having a 
definite object in view. 

Means of progress : Let us at once do something 
more for God than we are doing at present. Let us 
examine what we actually do and see what it 
amounts to, and how far it exacts any effort from 
us. And do not let us be hasty in deciding that we 
cannot afford to do more at present. Be cautious; 
but be generous as well. 

There is something which we can infallibly do, 
and that is, put a more intense spirit into what we 
actually do : aim each of our actions to the greater 
glory of God, and inwardly unite our will to his in 
all we plan, or do, or suffer. Pray for a greater de- 
sire of perfection. It is in reality praying against 

227 



Honey from Many Hives 

worldliness, accustoming ourselves to unworldly 
standards and ideas. 

RECOLLECTION. 

Recollection is a double attention which we pay 
first to God and secondly to ourselves; and without 
vehemence or straining, yet not without some pain- 
ful effort, it must be as unintermitting as possible. 
The necessity of it is so great that nothing in the 
whole of the spiritual life, love excepted, is more 
necessary. We cannot otherwise acquire the habit 
of walking constantly in the presence of God. The 
habit of recollection is only to be acquired by de- 
grees. There is no royal road to it. 

Until we feel the presence of God habitually, and 
can revert to him easily, it is astonishing with what 
readiness other subjects can preoccupy and engross 
us; and it is just this which we cannot afford to let 
them do. Newspapers keep not a few back from 
perfection. 

The practice of retaining some spiritual flower, 
maxim, or resolution from our morning's medita- 
tion, in order to supply us with matter for ejacu- 
latory prayer during the day, is a great help in 
acquiring recollection. 

But the greatest help of all is to act slowly. 
Eagerness, anxiety, indeliberation, precipitancy — 
these are all fatal to recollection. Let us do every- 
thing leisurely, measuredly, slowly, and we shall 
228 



Frederick William Faber 

soon become recollected. Nature likes to have much 
to do, and to run from one thing to another; and 
grace is just the opposite of this. 

TEMPTATIONS. 

Temptations are the raw material of glory; and 
the management of them is as great a work as the 
government of an empire, and requires a vigilance 
as incessant and as universal. In one sense, all 
temptations consist in an alliance between what is 
within us and what is without us. 

Wherever temptation is, there God is also. There 
is not one which his will has not permitted, and there 
is not a permission which is not an act of love as 
well. The devil cannot lay a finger on the child until 
its loving Father has prescribed the exact conditions, 
and has forewarned the soul by his inspirations, and 
has forearmed it with proportionable succors of 
grace. The devil is simply our fellow-creature, and 
a conquered and blighted creature. He is continu- 
ally overreaching himself. 

Delectation is not consent. We are not the mas- 
ters of the first indeliberate movements of our own 
hearts and minds. The enemy may run his hand 
flourishingly over the keys before we are aware. 
But there must be a deliberate acceptation and re- 
tention of the delectation before it can amount to 
consent or become a sin. 

It is impossible for us to be altogether free from 

229 



Honey from Many Hives 

distractions, useless to attempt it, and foolish to be 
dejected because we have not accomplished that im- 
possibility. Conscious and deliberate acquiescence 
in and retention of distractions are, of course, our 
own affair ; for it is in our power to withhold them ; 
but the indeliberate occupation of our minds by them 
it is not in our power to prevent. Nothing can 
hinder bitter thoughts from disturbing us, wrong 
thoughts from staining us, and vain thoughts from 
disquieting and fatiguing us. The first sort of dis- 
tractions are sand, the second pitch, and the third 
straw. 

THE WORK OF PATIENCE. 

Patience sanctifies for four reasons principally. 
The circumstances which exact its exercise come 
upon us from without; we have no control over 
them ; they may come upon us at all moments ; and 
they always involve the sacrifice or the mortification 
of our own will and way. 

We may say that, partly from our own badness 
and partly from theirs, all mankind, far and near, 
kindred and strangers, are a trial to our patience in 
some way or other. 

Almost every circumstance in life has a manner, 
time, place, and degree by which it tries our 
patience; and it is not too much to say, especially in 
the earlier stages of the devout life, that this exer- 
cise does more for us than fast or discipline, and that 
when we can go through with it for love of the 
230 



Frederick William Faber 

sweetness of Jesus we are not far from interior 
holiness. 

The English spirit of always standing up for our 
rights is fatal to perfection. It is the opposite of 
that charity of w T hich the apostle says that it seeks 
not its own. Now this spirit is admirably mortified 
by the exercise of patience. It involves also a con- 
tinual practice of the presence of God; for we may 
be come upon at any moment for an almost heroic 
display of good temper. And it is a short road to 
unselfishness; for nothing is left to self. All that 
seems to belong most intimately to self, to be self's 
private property, such as time, home, and rest, are 
invaded by these continual trials of patience. The 
family is full of such opportunities. It may be 
added, for it is no slight thing, that there is not a 
spiritual exercise less open to delusion than is this. 
If it is true of any one grace, besides charity, it is 
true of patience, that it is the beauty of holiness. 

There is a vast difference between hatred of self 
and impatience with self. The more of the first we 
have the better, and the less of the last. Once let us 
surmount the difficulty of being patient with our- 
selves, and the road to perfection lies clear and un- 
obstructed before us. But what do we mean by im- 
patience with self? Fretting under temptations, and 
mistaking their real nature, and their real value also. 
In actual sin being more vexed at the lowering of 
our own self-esteem than being grieved at God's dis- 

231 



Honey from Many Hives 

honor. In being surprised and irritated at our own 
want of self-control because of our subjection to un- 
worthy habits. Being annoyed at our own want of 
sensible devotion, as if it were at all in our own 
power. To these symptoms w T e may add a sort of 
querulousness about the want of spiritual progress, 
as if we were to be saints in a month. These dan- 
gerous symptoms of impatience with self come from 
one or other of four causes : self-love, want of 
humility, the absence of a true estimate of the huge 
difficulties of the spiritual life, and an obstinate dis- 
inclination to walk by faith. 

simplicity. 

Simplicity aims at one end, seeks one object, is 
occupied with one work, and lives with singleness 
of heart. In its relations with God it puts away all 
multitude, all capriciousness, all distraction, all de- 
tachment, and its strength lies in its unity of purpose 
and its concentration of effort. In its relations w T ith 
others it is gentle, open, without disguise, without 
insincerity, without flattery, and without deceit. 
There are hundreds of things which do not amount 
to lies, but which are contrary to the beautiful per- 
fection of simplicity. There is a speech and a si- 
lence, there are looks, manners, permissions, con- 
cealments, dubious smiles, pretended inadvertencies, 
unworthy connivances, and intentional distractions, 
which grieve the Holy Spirit, and make sad ravages 
232 



Frederick William Faber 

of the interior soul, though' they are far short of 
absolute falsehood. If you would be perfect you 
must be true to a scruple. A hair's breadth of deceit 
must be to you as if it were a mile of positive un- 
truth. Diplomacy of manner, way, and speech, cir- 
cuitous routes for courtesy's sake, giving things the 
wrong names, and being silent when silence is really 
speech — these things are injuring men's sanctity, 
and causing saints to break in the mold, and frus- 
trating beautiful purposes of grace every day. 
Christian simplicity, or holy truthfulness, requires, 
first, that we be truthful with ourselves; secondly, 
that we be truthful with others; and, thirdly, that 
we be truthful with God. 

SELF-DECEIT. 

It is the hardest thing in the world to acquire a 
knowledge of self. Are we really taking pains to do 
it? It is a sad annoyance when others find us out, 
for it mostly lowers their opinion of us ; but the sad- 
dest annoyance of all to our poor nature is to find 
ourselves out ; for if we lose self's good opinion we 
are forlorn indeed. 

People are dishonest with themselves, either from 
the dislike of exertion, or from a suspicion that in- 
vestigation will compel them to commit themselves 
to God or definitely deny him something, both of 
which they are equally anxious to avoid. There is 
hardly a man or woman in the world who has not 

233 



Honey from Many Hives 

got some corner of self into which he or she fears 
to venture with a light. 

How very little do even good persons know them- 
selves! Much of what they think is the work of 
grace about them is simply the providential accident 
of their circumstances. Self-love knows how to 
blend most skillfully its ideal with its realization of 
its ideal, so that not only shall nobody else know 
what is theory and what is practice, but even self 
shall not be able, at least with anything like assur- 
ance, to discern between the two. 

There is no entanglement in creation like the en- 
tanglement of self-deceit ; and there is this peculiar- 
ity about all its varieties, that they are all of them 
swift diseases, tending to become so very soon, and 
at such early stages, very difficult to cure. Its char- 
acteristic is deep-seated inveteracy. Self-deceit is 
very sore and sensitive when touched, though it is 
for the most part very hard to touch. 

The higher operations of grace are more subject 
to delusion than the lower, except the very highest, 
which have to do with the soul's uttermost union 
with God. Very few even of those aiming at per- 
fection rise above the middle graces. Hence it is 
practically the common rule that the higher men 
rise in the spiritual life the more subject they become 
to the insidious operations of self-deceit. 

General simplicity of life is an antagonistic power 
to it. A man who habitually thinks of God, or one 
2 34 



Frederick William Faber 

who thinks of God first and himself second, or one 
who does not sensibly live and act under the eyes 
and tongues of others, or one who does his duty 
lovingly, making few returns upon self, is as nearly 
an impossible subject for the greater triumphs of 
self-deceit as can be found among us poor, self- 
loving, self-seeking creatures. 

The cure of self-deceit is not a thing which can be 
done once for all and then be over. It is a lifelong 
work. The first remedy is a great distrust of self, 
not merely in a general way, but in a very particular 
way. We must distrust ourselves precisely at the 
most privileged times and places, making it of faith 
to ourselves that when we are most sure we are in 
the right we are most surely in the wrong. Medita- 
tion on the attributes of God is another defense 
against self-deceit. The likeness of God is the aim 
of holiness, and we unconsciously imitate that which 
is a frequent subject of our meditation. The face of 
God will make us real. Communion with God eats 
away our unreality. 

THE evil of taking offense. 

To give offense is a great fault, but to take offense 
is a greater fault. It implies a greater amount of 
wrongness in ourselves, and it does a greater 
amount of mischief to others. I do not remember 
to have read of any saint who ever took offense. 
The habit of taking offense implies a quiet pride 

235 



Honey from Many Hives 

which is altogether unconscious how proud it is. 
The habit of taking offense implies also a fund of 
uncharitableness deep down in us, which grace and 
interior mortification have not reached. Contem- 
poraneously with the offense we have taken there 
has been some wounded feeling or other in an ex- 
cited state within us. When we are in good humor 
we do not take offense. 

Is it often allowable to judge our neighbor? 
Surely we know it to be the rarest thing possible. 
Yet we cannot take offense without, first, forming a 
judgment; secondly, forming an unfavorable judg- 
ment; thirdly, deliberately entertaining it as a motive 
power; and, fourthly, doing all this, for the most 
part, in the subject-matter of piety, which in nine 
cases out of ten our obvious ignorance withdraws 
from our jurisdiction. 

A thoughtless or a shallow man is more likely to 
take offense than any other. He can conceive of 
nothing but what he sees upon the surface. He has 
but little self-knowledge, and hardly suspects the 
variety or complication of his own motives. Much 
less, then, is he likely to divine in a discerning way 
the hidden causes, the hidden excuses, the hidden 
temptations, which may lie, and always do lie, be- 
hind the actions of others. 

Readiness to take offense is a great hindrance to 
the attainment of perfection. It hinders us in the 
acquisition of self-knowledge. No one is so blind to 
236 



Frederick William Faber 

his own faults as a man who has the habit of detect- 
ing the faults of others. A man who is apt to take 
offense is never a blithe or a genial man. He is not 
made for happiness ; and was ever a melancholy man 
made into a saint ? A downcast man is raw material 
which can only be manufactured into a very ordi- 
nary Christian. 

If it is not quite the same thing with censorious- 
ness, who shall draw the line between them? Fur- 
thermore, it destroys our influence with others. We 
irritate where we ought to enliven. To be suspected 
of want of sympathy is to be disabled as an apostle. 
He who is critical will necessarily be unpersuasive. 

In what does perfection consist? In a childlike, 
shortsighted charity which believes all things; in a 
grand, supernatural conviction that everyone is bet- 
ter than ourselves; in estimating far too low the 
amount of evil in the world ; in looking far too ex- 
clusively on w^hat is good; in the ingenuity of kind 
constructions; in our inattention, hardly intelligible, 
to the faults of others; in a graceful perversity of 
incredulousness about scandal or offenses. This is 
the temper and genius of saints and saintlike men. 
It is a radiant, energetic faith that man's slowness 
and coldness will not interfere with the success of 
God's glory. No shadow of moroseness ever falls 
over the bright mind of a saint. Now, is not all this 
the very opposite of the temper and spirit of a man 
who is apt to take offense? The difference is so 

237 



■ 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

plain that it is needless to comment on it. He is 
happy who on his dying bed can say, "No one has 
ever given me offense in my life." He has either 
not seen his neighbor's faults, or, when he saw them, 
the sight had to reach him through so much sun- 
shine of his own that they did not strike him so 
much as faults to blame, but rather as reasons for a 
deeper and a tenderer love. 

KIXDXESS. 

Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, 
eloquence, or learning; and these three last have 
never converted anyone unless they were kind also. 

Few men can do without praise, and there are few 
circumstances under which a man can be praised 
without injuring him. But kindness has all the vir- 
tues of praise without its vices. Praise always im- 
plies some degree of condescension, and condescen- 
sion is a thing intrinsically ungraceful; whereas 
kindness is the most graceful attitude one man can 
assume toward another. So here is a most impor- 
tant work that kindness does. It supplies the place 
of praise. 

Moreover, kindness is infectious. It makes others 
kind. The kindest men are generally those who have 
received the greatest number of kindnesses. A 
proud man is seldom a kind man. Humility makes 
us kind, and kindness makes us humble. It is the 
easiest road to humility, and infallible as well as 
238 



Frederick William Faber 

easy. A kind man is a man who is never self- 
occupied. He is genial; he is sympathetic; he is 
brave. 

Kind thoughts are rarer than either kind words 
or kind deeds. They imply a great deal of thinking 
about others. This in itself is rare. But they imply 
also a great deal of thinking about others without 
the thoughts being criticisms. This is rarer still. 
It seems to me that our thoughts are a more true 
measure of ourselves than our actions are. They 
are not under the control of human respect. It is 
not easy for them to be ashamed of themselves. 
They have no witnesses but God. 

Kind thoughts, for the most part, imply a low 
opinion of self. They are an inward praise of 
others, and because inward, therefore genuine. The 
kind-thoughted man has no rights to defend, no 
self-importance to push. He finds others pleasanter 
to deal with than self ; and others find him so pleas- 
ant to deal with that love follows him wherever he 
goes. Kind interpretations are imitations of the 
merciful ingenuity of the Creator finding excuses 
for his creatures. Have we not always found in our 
past experience that on the whole our kind interpre- 
tations were truer than our harsh ones ? 

A man is very much himself what he thinks of 
others. Even a well-founded suspicion more or less 
degrades a man. He is unavoidably the worse man 
in consequence of having entertained it. Virtue 
16 239 



Honey from Many Hives 



grows in us under the influence of kindly judg- 
ments, as if they were its nutriment. But in the 
case of harsh judgments we find we often fall into 
the sin of which we have judged another guilty. 

Above all things the practice of kind thoughts is 
our main help to that complete government of the 
tongue which we all so much covet. The interior 
beauty of a soul through habitual kindliness of 
thought is greater than our words can tell. To such 
a man life is a perpetual bright evening, with all 
things calm, and fragrant, and restful. 

Kind words are the music of the world. There is 
hardly a power on earth equal to them. It is by 
voice and words that men mesmerize each other. 
Happiness and kindness go together. The double 
reward of kind words is the happiness they cause 
in others and the happiness they cause in ourselves. 
Is there any happiness in the world like the happi- 
ness of a disposition made happy by the happiness 
of others? There is no joy to be compared with it. 

We become kinder by saying kind words. A 
kind- worded man is a genial man; and geniality is 
power. Geniality is the best controversy. Satire 
will not convert men. Hell threatened very kindly 
is more persuasive than a biting truth about a man's 
false position. 

We may put down clever speeches as the first and 
greatest difficulty in the way of kind words. A man 
who lays himself out to amuse is never a safe man 
240 



Frederick William Faber 

to have for a friend or even for an acquaintance. He 
is not a man whom anyone really loves or respects 
He is never innocent. He is forever jostling charity 
by the pungency of his criticisms, and wounding 
justice by his revelation of secrets. 

The grass of the field is better than the cedars of 
Lebanon. It feeds more, and it rests the eye better 
— that thymy, daisy-eyed carpet, making earth 
sweet, and fair, and homelike. Kindness is the turf 
of the spiritual world, whereon the sheep of Christ 
feed quietly beneath the Shepherd's eye. Kindness 
is the occupation of the whole man by the atmos- 
phere and spirit of heaven. 

241 



Honey from Many Hives 



EDWARD MEYRICK GOULBURN, 

In barest outline the salient facts of Dr. Goul- 
burn's life are as follows: Born 1818; educated at 
Eton and Oxford, where he graduated in 1S39 ; or- 
dained deacon in 1842. and priest in 1843 : elected 
Fellow of Merton College, 1843 curate of Holywell, 
Oxford. 1841-50; head-master of Rugby School. 
1850-58; prebendary of St. Paul's. 185S ; one of her 
majesty's chaplains, and vicar of St. John's, Pad- 
dington, London, 1859-66; Dean of Norwich. 1866- 
89. He received the degree of D.C.L. in 1850. and 
of D.D. in 1856. He died May 3. 1897. 

His writings have been very numerous, and very 
highly valued. The four from which the following 
extracts are taken are these: Thoughts on Personal 
Religion, being a treatise on the Christian Life in 
its two chief elements. Devotion and Practice; Tlie 
Pursuit of Holiness, a sequel to Thouglits on Per- 
sonal Religion, being designed to carry the reader 
somewhat further onward in the Spiritual Life; An 
Introduction to the Devotional Study of the Holy 
Scriptures, and The Idle Word, short religious es- 
says upon the Gift of Speech and its Employment 
in Com 'crsoti n. They have all passed through 
many editions (the first one about twenty), and be- 
cause of their exceeding clearness and simplicity of 
style, as well as sound, sensible counsel, have been 
widely useful. Dean Goulburn is one of the very 
242 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

few in the present generation who by their solid 
services to the cause of religion deserve to be ranked 
with the great spiritual masters of the past, whom 
it is clear that he has closely studied. 



DO ALL FOR GOD. 

First, before you go forth to your daily task, es- 
tablish your mind thoroughly in the truth, that all 
the lawful and necessary pursuits of the world are so 
many departments of God's great harvest field, in 
which he has called Christians to go forth and labor 
for him. Let us regard them all as, at least, if noth- 
ing more, wheels of the great world-system whose 
revolutions are bringing on the second advent and 
kingdom of Christ. Then, imagining yourself for 
a moment under no obligation to pursue your par- 
ticular calling, undertake it with the deliberate and 
conscious intention of furthering his work and will. 
Choose it with your whole will as the path in which 
he would have you to follow him, and the task to 
which he has called you. Consecrate it to him by a 
few moments of secret prayer, imploring him to take 
it up with the great scheme of his service, and to 
make it all, humble, weak, and sinful as it is, instru- 
mental in furthering his designs. Then put your 
hand to it bravely, endeavoring to keep before the 
mind the aim of pleasing him by diligence and zeal. 
Imagine Jesus examining your work as he will do 

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Honey from Many Hives 

at the last day, and strive that there may be no flaw 
in it ; that it may be thoroughly well executed, both 
in its outer manner and inner spirit. At the begin- 
ning and end of every considerable action renew the 
holy intention of the morning. 

DO ALL IN GOD. 

Endeavor to make your heart a little sanctuary 
in which you may continually realize the presence of 
God, and from which unhallowed thoughts, and 
even vain thoughts, must carefully be excluded. 

What we recommend, and what is surely attain- 
able, is the mere consciousness that God's eye is 
upon us. Just as no speaker for a moment forgets, 
or can forget, that the eyes of his audience are upon 
him, and this does not interfere with the most active 
operations of mind, so with the presence of God* 
It is to be secured in the same way by which all other 
results in the spiritual life are obtained — by trustful, 
expectant, sanguine prayer and effort. We should 
call the attention definitely to God's presence, as 
occasion offers, at the necessary breaks or periods in 
our work, and occasionally mingle with the act of 
recollection two or three words of secret prayer 
which may suggest themselves. And it will be found 
in course of time that the constant recurrence of the 
thoughts to God will pass into an instinctive con- 
sciousness of his presence, and that the mind will 
acquire a tendency to gravitate toward him at all 
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Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

times, which will operate easily and naturally as 
soon as it is relieved of the strain which worldly 
affairs put upon it. 

interruptions. 

Are you a firm believer in the providence of God ? 
Do you believe that the whole of your affairs — 
trivial as well as great, irregular as well as in the 
ordinary course — are under his absolute, daily, 
hourly supervision and control? that nothing can 
possibly arise to you or any other which is not fore- 
seen by him, brought by him within the circle of his 
great plan? that the little incidents of each day, as 
well as the solemn crises of life, are his ordering? 
Then you admit that the occurrences of each day, 
however unlooked-for, however contrary to expecta- 
tion, are God-sent, and those which affect you sent 
specially and with discrimination to yourself. 

There is many a man who says, "I will conform 
myself to the general indications of God's will made 
to me by his word;" comparatively few who say, "I 
will conform myself to the special indications of 
God's will made to me by his providence." Why 
so few? 

Here then lies the real remedy for the uneasiness 
of mind which is caused by interruptions. View 
them as part of God's loving and wise plan for your 
day, and try to make out his meaning in sending 
them. When in your hour of morning devotion you 

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distribute your time beforehand (as it is in every 
way wise and proper to do) let it always be with the 
proviso that the said arrangement shall be subject 
to modifications by God's plan for you as that plan 
shall unfold itself hour by hour to your apprehen- 
sions. The radical fault of our nature, be it re- 
membered, is self-will; and we little suspect how 
largely self-will and self-pleasing may be at the bot- 
tom of plans and pursuits which still have God's 
glory and the furtherance of his service for their 
professed end. 

Suppose the mind to be well grounded in the truth 
that God's foresight and forearrangement embrace 
all which seems to us an interruption — that in this 
interruption lies awaiting us a good work in which 
it is part of his eternal counsel that we should walk, 
or a good frame of mind which he wishes us to 
cultivate; then we are forearmed against surprises 
and contradictions; we have found an alchemy 
which converts each unforeseen and untoward oc- 
currence into gold; and the balm of peace distills 
upon our heart, though we be disappointed of the 
end which we had proposed to ourselves. Let us 
seek to grasp the true notion of providence ; for in it 
there is peace and deep repose of soul. 

PURITY OF INTENTION. 

Perfect purity of intention is the highest spiritual 
state, a state which probably the holiest man has 

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Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

never reached/ but to which all real children of God 
are in different measures approximating. Our de- 
fectiveness of intention should be, and may be, by 
self-examination, and careful attention and prayer, 
remedied. Let the motives as well as the actions be 
scrutinized in self-examination. Ask: "Should I 
have done this, or done it with equal zeal, had no eye 
of man been upon me ? Should I have resisted this 
temptation if there had been no check upon me from 
human law or public opinion ? Should I have acted 
thus faithfully and conscientiously without the 
stimulus of human praise?" Let us cultivate par- 
ticularly, and strive to acquit ourselves well in, those 
actions of the Christian life which are in their nature 
private, and cannot come abroad. For example, 
private prayer and private study of the Scriptures. 
Exercises such as these are more or less a satisfac- 
tory test of religious character, because they are in- 
capable of being prompted by human respect. And 
we may apply the same remark to all the ordinary 
actions and commonplace business of life, which 
must be transacted by all in the same way, and may 
be transacted by the Christian with a spiritual in- 
tention. What does growing in grace mean but that 
this spiritual intention should lengthen its reach — 
should extend itself more and more to every corner 
of our life? 

The meeting all calls upon us, however humble, 
with the thought that they come to us in the way 

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Hoxey from Many Hives 

of God's providence, and are indications of the 
quarter in which he would have us direct our ener- 
gies, is a great means of purifying our intention, 
and so of advancing in spirituality. For nobody is 
aware what is going on in our hearts when we meet 
these calls in a devout spirit; our friends only see us 
doing commonplace things, which others do, and 
give us no credit. But in meeting such calls we 
have praise of God, who, like a good Father, marks 
with a smile of approbation the humblest efforts of 
his children to please him. 

To live holily is nothing else than, in everything 
we do. to act from a single desire to please God out 
of love to him, and from no other aim whatever. 

HATRED OF EVIL. 

By way of testing the affections of our hearts to- 
ward God let us ascertain how we are disposed 
toward his opposite — evil. To hate evil is some- 
thing far more than merely to shun or avoid it. If 
we do not hate impurity, sicken at the sight and 
thought of it, and turn away with disgust, it is out 
of the question that we can love God, who is purity. 
It is quite possible not to be implicated personally in 
sin and yet to treat it, when witnessed or heard of 
in others, with levity and indifference. There can 
be no question that, if a man were in a perfect moral 
state, moral evil would affect his mind as sensibly, 
and in as lively a manner — would, in short, be as 
24S 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

much of an affliction to him as pain is to his phys- 
ical frame. Our Lord Jesus Christ not only loathed 
the grosser forms of evil, but he flung from him 
with abhorrence every unspiritual suggestion, such 
as that once made to him by the apostle Peter, to 
decline the cross and consult his own ease. 

Love, as a Christian grace, is an altogether dif- 
ferent thing from many qualities which usurp its 
name. A different thing from that easy pliability of 
will which is called good nature, but which in fact 
resolves itself into indolence and languor of charac- 
ter. On the contrary, in all real love there is 
strength, strength of will and strength of character. 
In all real love there is wrapped up hatred against 
that evil which counteracts goodness. Generally 
speaking, the truest Christians have in them the 
greatest force of character. There must be resolute- 
ness to obtain the prize. The salt of decision and 
energy must be mixed with the oil of love. Again, 
Christian love is a very different thing from that 
indifference to theological error which, in these lati- 
tudinarian days, too often apes its manners and 
mimics its phraseology. In lesser (or doubtful) 
points, not affecting the vitality of God's truth, our 
maxim must be tolerance to the very utmost; nay 
(more than tolerance), a catholic acknowledgment 
of whatever is good and wise in other Christian 
Churches. But where the error mutilates the vital 
parts of the truth, there love can only appear in its 

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Honey from Many Hives 

form of hatred of evil. It is a very serious breach 
of love to pay compliments to false doctrine. Our 
blessed Lord and his apostles never did so. 

LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR. 

What we are required to love in our neighbor is 
the image of God in him. Every soul has a frag- 
ment of this image in its lowest depth, though it 
may be overlaid by all manner of rubbish — infirm- 
ity, imperfection, frivolity, sin. The true Christian 
studies the happy art of making the most of every- 
one with whom he is thrown in contact — of recog- 
nizing in each soul and of eliciting from it that 
feature of heart and mind in which stands the 
relationship of that particular soul to God. It is this 
true self of our neighbor that we are required to love. 
We are not required to love infirmities or imperfec- 
tions; nay, we could not do so if required; for in- 
firmities and imperfections are naturally repelling. 
God must hate sin in its every form; between him 
and insincerity, untruthfulness, peevishness, petu- 
lance, ill-temper — above all, perhaps, between him 
and selfishness — there must be an eternal antipathy. 
And yet nothing is more certain than that, while 
God hates my selfishness and untruthfulness, he 
deeply and tenderly loves me with an individualiz- 
ing love. And he would have me love my neighbor 
exactly as he loves me; fastening my regard upon 
his true self, upon the feature of God's image which 
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Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

is reflected in his soul, and bearing with his infirmi- 
ties out of this esteem for the true self. 

Our love of our neighbor must be brought to 
practical tests. Are we doing anything to help him ? 
making sacrifices for him, of money, or time, or 
pleasures ? It is an excellent spiritual precept, when- 
ever a good desire springs up in our heart, to stereo- 
type and make it permanent; in other words, to 
bring the good desire to good effect by an effort in 
that direction. Secondly, our prayers for others 
furnish a good practical test as to the genuineness 
of the love we bear them. What approach are we 
making to the great model of the Lord's Prayer, 
which does not contain any petition exclusively di- 
rected to our own wants ? Do we pray for others at 
all? And, if we do, is this exercise considered by us 
merely as an ornamental appendage to our other 
prayers, but as in no wise essential to their accepta- 
bility with God? Seek to make your prayers for 
others specific, so far as your knowledge of their 
character and circumstances allows. Pray for them 
sympathetically. And pray for this sympathy, while 
you endeavor, by careful consideration of their 
case, to excite it within yourself. Our efforts for 
others, whether of prayer or benevolence, are not 
lost. If they are not benefited by them we are: in 
increase of light, and power, and comfort, in whis- 
pers of mercy and peace, they return again into our 
bosom. 

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Honey from Many Hives 

how to work. 

Do your work under the eye of the heavenly Mas- 
ter, and look up in his face from time to time for 
his help and blessing ; an internal colloquy with him 
ever and anon, so far from being a distraction, will 
be a furtherance. For no work can in any high 
sense prosper which is not done in a bright, elastic 
spirit; and there is no means of keeping the spirit 
bright and elastic but by keeping it near to God. 
Another point is, never to allow T ourselves to think 
of our work as a distraction or a hindrance to piety. 
Regard it in its true light morally and spiritually. 

But the most important point of advice in an age 
like ours, when men in all conditions of life are 
overweighted with work, and in a country like ours, 
whose inhabitants are so little meditative and so 
constitutionally busy, is to aim rather at doing well 
what we do than at getting through much. Francis 
of Sales thought that the great bane of the spiritual 
life in most men is that eagerness and undue activity 
of the natural mind which leads to precipitancy and 
hurry. The remedy is to recommend the work to 
God and humbly ask his blessing and his aid, as we 
may do with the utmost confidence if the work be 
really that which his providence has assigned to us ; 
then, resolutely to refuse to attend to more than one 
thing at a time, and to let everything else drop till 
that one thing is done. Other things must wait. 
Some of them we shall be able probably to do by and 
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Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

by. Not a few of them will do themselves. And 
some of them, may be, we shall have to leave un- 
done. Let us not be disquieted. If the spirit of the 
doer have been right all will be well. If we could do 
our work in a brighter and less anxious spirit it 
would wear us less. It is worry, not work, that 
wears. 

FAITH IN GOD. 

What is faith? It may be defined as the faculty 
by which we realize unseen things, the faculty of 
spiritual touch. Faith is the only faculty which 
grasps the unseen, which brings it home to us 
and gives it a living power, so that we have such 
a conviction of its reality as to live under its influ- 
ence. 

When directed toward God or Christ faith takes 
the form of trust. But how can we trust a person 
without a high conception of his character? Seek, 
then, to feed and nourish in your mind great con- 
ceptions of him with whom you have to do. Ex- 
pand and exalt your notions of him by every means 
in your power. Large and exalted conceptions of 
God are the spring of all virtue. 

We may know him in part from his creation. 
Consider the lilies of the field, and the fowls of the 
air. Why, because superior edification and clearer 
light are to be had from our own Bible, are we to 
look down upon the edification and light which are 
to be derived from the Bible of the Gentiles ? Might 

253 



Honey from Many Hives 

we not on the same principle neglect the Old Testa- 
ment because the New is of superior importance ? 

The life of true religion, then, is an experi- 
mental knowledge, a heart-knowledge, of God — 
such a thorough appreciation of the excellence and 
beauty of his character as really contents and satis- 
fies the soul, even when earthly sources of happiness 
fail. The knowledge of God is gained, as the knowl- 
edge of man is gained, by living much with him. 
If we only come across a man occasionally, and in 
public, and see nothing of him in his private and 
domestic life, we cannot be said to know him. All 
the knowledge of God which many professing 
Christians have is derived from a formal salute 
which they make to him in their prayers, when they 
rise up in the morning and lie down at night. While 
this state of things lasts no great progress in the 
Christian life can possibly be made. No progress 
would be made even if they were to offer stated 
prayers seven times a day instead of twice. But try 
to draw down God into your daily work; consult 
him about it ; offer it to him as a contribution to his 
service; ask him to help you in it; ask him to bless 
it ; do it as to the Lord, and not unto men ; refer to 
him in your temptations; go back at once to his 
bosom when you are conscious of a departure from 
him ; in short, walk hand in hand with God through 
life, dreading above all things to quit his side, and 
assured that as soon as you do so you will fall into 
2 54 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

mischief and trouble ; seek not so much to pray as ta 
live in an atmosphere of prayer, lifting up your 
heart momentarily to him in varied expressions of 
devotion as the various occasions of life may 
prompt, adoring him, thanking him, resigning your 
will to him many times a day, and more or less all 
day; and you shall thus, as you advance in this prac- 
tice, as it becomes more and more habitual to you, 
increase in that knowledge of God which fully con- 
tents and satisfies the soul. 

Again, it is obvious that the knowledge of God 
of which we speak may be obtained from studying 
his mind as it is given us in the Holy Scriptures. 
We may be said to know an author when we have 
so carefully and constantly read his works as to im- 
bibe his spirit. There is a study of Scripture which 
is analogous to ejaculatory prayer — not a stated 
study (though of course the stated study of it may 
not be neglected), but a study which inweaves the 
Word into the daily life of the Christian, a rumina- 
tion which can be carried on without book, and 
which is more or less continual. 

Again, the discipline of life will very much con- 
tribute toward the knowledge of God, Those who 
desire to have a practical and experimental, as dis- 
tinct from a speculative, knowledge of him will 
study him in these his dealings; they will try to dis- 
cern the lesson of every part of their own experi- 
ence, if haply it may teach them something of him 
V 2 S5 



Honey from Many Hives 

with whom they have to do, and will thus have his 
wisdom, power, and love impressed upon them in a 
way in which nothing short of experience can 
impress. 

"THE MORTIFICATION OF OUR MEMBERS. 

First, it should be deeply considered what it is 
that has to be mortified in us — that it is the affection 
to created good, not in one particular shape, but in 
all its forms. The first step, therefore, to be taken 
by him who would exercise a w T ise mortification is 
to consider deeply in what form or forms of earthly 
good he is naturally disposed to place his happiness ; 
what forms yield him, constituted as he is, most 
comfort, most gratification. Whatever it be — hu- 
man esteem, luxurious ease, sympathy, the gratifi- 
cation of ambition, amusement- — there let him 
exercise a jealous watchfulness over himself; there 
let him mortify his will. To mortify the will is often 
a far greater cross than to inflict the severest pen- 
ance on the body. There let him lay by force re- 
strictions upon himself, sometimes sharply refusing 
all indulgence to the propensity, however in itself 
innocent, never at any time giving it too free a rein. 
The more intensely a man realizes unseen and eter- 
nal things the more he can afford to dispense with 
the things that are seen and are temporal. Morti- 
fication is not an end in itself, it is but a means to 
an end — that end being the springing up in our 
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Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

hearts of a fountain of eternal joy. And therefore 
to cultivate a taste for spiritual enjoyment, and to 
place one's contentment and satisfaction more and 
more exclusively in the contemplation of God and 
in communion with him, is the way to grow in the 
spirit of mortification, without which spirit the bare 
acts of it have little or no value. 

EMOTION AXD AFFECTION. 

The true life of the soul is in its affections, not in 
its emotions. Emotions are impossible (according 
to the law of our minds) except at a crisis and 
moment of convulsion. And he who seeks for them 
under ordinary circumstances will run the risk of 
making his religion morbid. There are two safe 
signs, in our normal spiritual life, that we love 
Christ. One is confidence. The habit of exposing 
the contents of the heart to Christ, of referring all 
our actions to his will, of commending all our 
troubles to his care, and all our difficulties to his 
direction; the realizing him as being by our side, 
always sympathizing, always inviting our confi- 
dence, always ready and willing to help us ; the 
being sincere in all our dealings with him, and per- 
fectly single-minded in seeking to know his will — 
this is one great test of love for him, which, if really 
found in us in a small degree, is worth a large 
amount of high-flown feeling. 

And the second test is that we seek to please him. 

2 57 



Honey from Many Hives 

To attempt to please Christ is not only to act in com- 
pliance with the general indications of his will which 
are made to us in his Word, but to be on the watch 
for opportunities of doing him service, and to em- 
brace those opportunities whenever they arise; it 
is to be guided by his eye, as well as by the express 
directions of his voice, and to find in the sense of his 
favor and approving smile the strongest stimulus to 
duty. Whoever feels and acts thus toward him 
must love him, however little of sensible emotion 
he may experience. Emotion may be defined as 
affection quickened by a crisis. But then it is not 
at all essential to the existence or genuineness of an 
affection that it should be thus quickened. 

The will is the sphere in which all genuine love 
for Christ displays itself. "If ye love me, keep my 
commandments," Christ says. Your love for me 
must be an affection of the will ; it must be a moral 
choice of me in preference to sin and the world, and 
must show itself in embracing my will both by ac- 
tive obedience and passive submission. It must be 
grounded upon a perception of my excellence and of 
the benefits received from me, and must enable you 
to find in the single-minded effort to please me a 
satisfaction purer, higher than is to be found in any 
earthly gratifications, and of a different order. 

Reader, how far does your love for Christ reside 
in the will, in the judgment and moral sense? Do 
you live much with him, and love to live with him, 
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Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

in thought and in prayer? Do you honor him by 
drawing him into use in all his offices of grace? 
Can you yield up your will into his hands, to choose 
for yourself nothing else than he chooses for you? 
Does the satisfaction of trying to please him excel 
every other in a certain high and pure flavor ? These 
are the questions which must determine the genuine- 
ness of our love for him. And genuine love is the 
only safe evidence of genuine faith in him. And on 
faith in him is suspended our salvation. 

WHAT SHUTS CHRIST FROM US? 

What is it which occupies the room in our hearts 
which he seeks? Two things principally, under 
which all others will fall: first, self-will, and then 
confidence in the creature for happiness. 

The least trace of self-will excludes pro tanto God 
and his working from the soul. Absolute surrender 
to his will and word in everything is the only con- 
dition on which the Lord will take up his abode in 
the depth of the soul, and give to the heart that 
calm and repose which only his presence can give. 
There is, alas ! many a will which does not sit loose 
upon its pivot, but is fixed in the quarter to which 
its natural inclinations point, and which moves not, 
therefore, when the breath of God's Spirit seeks to 
turn it. There are many Christians who have not 
that delicate sensibility to God's inspirations which 
he loves to find in a soul, and which, when he does 

259 



Honey from Many Hives 

find it, enables him to do many mighty works 
therein. 

As a man increases in earnest love to Christ, a 
delicate tact grows up within him, a spiritual in- 
stinct, which teaches him (without any book) what 
he ought to say and do, and what he had better 
avoid on each particular occasion. God's children 
know the meaning of his eye. They know, by the 
glance he gives them, what path he would have them 
pursue, and what avoid. He never leaves them 
without an interior indication of his will, if they 
have but one desire, that of pleasing him. And why 
these indications are so rarely made is that God sees 
people are not quite disposed to accept them, not 
prepared in all things to move in the direction indi- 
cated. The soul must be empty of self-will before 
God can work in it. 

Confidence in the creature for happiness. Who 
shall say (without very special grace and an extraor- 
dinary measure of divine illumination) how far 
his affection is set upon the earthly blessings with 
which his cup is crowned? It is but too easy to de- 
ceive ourselves in this matter while the earthly bless- 
ings remain with us. If God sees the affections of 
trust and love twining too closely around the crea- 
ture, in very faithfulness to us he must tear them 
away, and cause a painful bleeding of the heart. 
The only way to keep our earthly treasures, on the 
assumption that we are God's true people, is, while 
260 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

we thankfully hold them of God, to mortify all un- 
due attachment to them, and sternly to refuse to 
idolize them. 

There can be no blessing without a risk. How 
long it is before a soul can perfectly unlearn trust in 
the creatures ! Does it ever completely unlearn this 
trust, while life lasts, and while the body of sin and 
death clogs it ? I suppose not. We must learn the 
art of tasting the various blessings with which God 
crowns our cup without being engrossed or taken 
up with them, without suffering them to quench the 
high aspirations of our soul after communion with 
God. This is a lesson which it takes long practice, 
much self-control, and great discipline of God's 
providence and Spirit to teach. 

PEACE OF MIND AND HEART. 

Peace is a very sensitive guest, apt to take flight 
at the slightest affront. We shall never know what 
it is to live in peace until we know what it is 
to live thoroughly in the present, rather than in 
the past or the future. We must restore to their 
right places and functions the acquiescence and the 
forward impulse which there are in our nature; be 
easily satisfied as regards our condition, so as not 
to indulge a wish for the change of it; be deeply 
dissatisfied with the little we know of God and of 
ourselves, and the miserably little we do for him. 
Let our whole care be to serve God in the present 

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Honey from Many Hives 

moment of our lives, being anxious for nothing. 
Deal with a fruitless anxiety just as you would deal 
with an impure or a resentful motion of the heart. 
Shut the door on it at once, and with one or two 
short ejaculatory prayers rouse the will and turn 
the thoughts in a different direction. Having made 
known your wishes to God in prayer, and begged 
him to deal in the matter, not according to your 
shortsighted views, but as seems best to his wisdom 
and love, leave it with him. If prudence and caution 
dictate that anything should be done to avert the 
evil you anticipate, or bring the blessing you desire, 
do it, and then think no more of the subject. Fruit- 
less thinking is just so much waste of that mental 
and spiritual energy every atom of which you need 
for your spiritual progress. It is also a positive 
breach of God's precept, "Be anxious for nothing." 

Try to realize God's presence; the realizing it ever 
so little has a wonderfully soothing and calming 
influence on the heart. Say secretly : "The Lord is 
in his holy temple (his temple of the inner man) ; 
keep silence, O my heart, before him." The mind 
wants steadying and setting right many times a day. 
It resembles a compass placed on a rickety table ; the 
least stir of the table makes the needle swing round 
and point untrue. Let it settle, then, till it points 
aright. Be perfectly silent for a few moments, 
thinking of Jesus ; there is an almost divine force in 
silence. Drop the thing that worries, that excites, 
262 



Edward Meyrick Goulburx 

that interests,- that thwarts you; let it fall, like a 
sediment, to the bottom, until the soul is no longer 
turbid, that you may serve God with a quiet mind. 
We cannot serve him with a turbid one ; it is a mere 
impossibility. The Spirit cannot make communica- 
tions to a soul in a turbulent state, stormy with 
passion, rocked by anxiety, or fevered with indigna- 
tion. Not until the wind, the earthquake, and the 
fire have subsided can God's still small voice be 
heard communing with man in the depths of his 
soul. Thus composing ourselves from time to time, 
setting the mind's needle true, we shall little by little 
approximate toward that devout frame which binds 
the soul to its true center, even while it travels 
through worldly business, worldly excitements, 
worldly cares. 

DEVOTIONAL USE OF SCRIPTURE. 

The established ordinance through which God ad- 
dresses man is the Holy Scripture. Its general 
character evinces the necessity of meditation for 
those who desire to use it aright. The Scripture is 
rather a book of principles than of rules, of examples 
than of precepts; it is essentially an unsystematic 
book. Hence the right use of it must involve effort 
and exertion. From the examples a moral must be 
drawn. Never read the Scripture narrative without 
asking yourself what practical lessons are to be de- 
rived from it. From the rule, where a rule is given, 

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Honey from Many Hives 

the reader must apply himself to gather the principle. 
And, again, rules must be framed from principles. 
As men are in general constituted, rules, specific, 
strict, and stringent, are absolutely necessary to 
progress in the spiritual life. 

Meditation on Scripture need not be limited to set 
times, but may be carried on profitably in any hour 
of solitude, and whenever the mind is not otherwise 
engaged. Possibly at some interval during the day 
you may be alone. Have recourse then to the pas- 
sage of Scripture which you have previously lodged 
in your mind, and ask yourself seriously, as in the 
sight of God, what practical lessons it is designed 
to teach, what bearing it has upon your spiritual 
welfare. At first you will find it difficult to prevent 
the thoughts from flying off to other topics. The 
power of fixing the mind is only to be gained by 
habit. Perhaps a little effort of the fancy may here 
lend us some assistance. During a solitary walk, 
or at any other period of leisure, imagine that, when 
you return, you will be called upon to address an 
audience on the subject which you propose for medi- 
tation. It wonderfully disentangles all difficulties 
to consider how we could make plain to other minds 
the truth which is thus beset to our own. 

The plan of a meditation on Holy Scripture: 
First, endeavor to realize the presence of God ac- 
cording to that conception of this great truth which 
best suits your own mind. Feel that he is here. 
264 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

Secondly, call upon God as an essential condition 
of success, to inspire you with holy thoughts, and to 
bless them to your spiritual profit and growth in 
grace for Christ's sake. Do it very briefly, but with 
great earnestness. Thirdly, open the passage of 
Scripture which is to form the subject of medita- 
tion; or repeat it mentally. Fourthly, the Bible (in 
the original, if you know the language sufficiently 
well to make it available) being opened at the pas- 
sage, picture to yourself the circumstances by an 
effort of the imagination. Fifthly, the circumstances 
having been pictured, next comes the exercise of the 
understanding upon the words. We reflect upon 
them, turn them over in our mind, endeavor to make 
out what they teach, what doctrine is wrapped up in 
them, and what duty. Sixthly, next follows the 
exercise of the affections and the will, incomparably 
the most important part of the whole meditation. 
In this consists the practical application of the little 
sermon to your own heart, in the absence of which 
it is useless, or in some respects worse than useless. 
It will be a good plan to allow any feeling which 
stirs within you, as you regard the truths of the 
passage, to express itself in prayer. Conclude all 
by an exercise of the will, that is, by one or more 
resolutions. It has been recommended also, before 
quitting the subject altogether, to pick out some one 
sentiment which has pleased us most, and to charge 
the memory with it during the remainder of the day, 

265 



Honey from Many Hives 

so that it may continually be recalled to mind at in- 
tervals, and be like a fragrant flower plucked from 
the garden and worn in the girdle, whose odor re- 
freshes us amid the dust and turmoil of life. This 
last is the precept of the devout Francis de Sales, 
whose method of meditation we have followed. 

PROPER FUNCTION OF WORDS. 

What is the proper function of words, the end for 
which they were given, by fulfilling which they be- 
come good and escape the censure of being idle 
words? The first, and perhaps the lowest, end of 
words is to carry on the business of life. The second 
end is to refresh and entertain the mind. The 
world's wisest men have mingled mirth with ear- 
nestness; they have not gone about with starched 
visage, prim manner, or puritanical grimace. By 
w T ay of preserving pure this offspring of the heart's 
merriment three cautions should be rigidly ob- 
served : First, from all our pleasantry must be ban- 
ished any, even the remotest, allusion to impurity, 
which forms the staple of much of this world's wit. 
Secondly, all such sarcasms as hurt another person, 
wound his feelings, and give him unnecessary pain, 
are absolutely forbidden by the law of Christian 
love. Thirdly, all such pleasantries as bring any- 
thing sacred into ridicule—or, without bringing it 
actually into ridicule, connect with it, in the minds 
of others, ludicrous associations, so that they can 
266 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

never see the object or hear the words without the 
ludicrous observation being presented to them — are 
carefully to be eschewed. 

A desire of gaining instruction is one of the first 
dispositions with which we must engage in conver- 
sation, if we desire to make it profitable, nay, even 
entertaining, to both parties. Let it be considered a 
fixed and ascertained truth that your neighbor, how- 
ever he may be inferior to you in some points of 
station and attainment, is able to impart to you some 
information which you do not possess. This is not 
a fancy; it is a real truth. Let us, therefore, when 
either casually or by design we enter into company, 
set ourselves to the finding out what that something 
is. Make an effort to extract, from those with 
whom the occasions of life bring you into contact, 
that portion of useful knowledge which out of the 
common stock they have appropriated to themselves. 

Idle words are forbidden by the Saviour. But by 
this he means useless words, conducive neither to 
instruction nor to innocent entertainment — words 
having no salt of wit or wisdom in them; flat, stale, 
dull, and unprofitable; thrown out to while away the 
time, to fill up a spare five minutes; words that are 
not consecrated by any seriousness of purpose what- 
ever, that contribute nothing either to the carrying 
cn of the necessary business of life, or harmless 
amusement, or to the lower or higher forms of in- 
struction, or to the glory of Almighty God. 

267 



Honey from Many Hives 

It is every man's duty, as it ought to be esteemed 
every man's privilege, to say a word for God in 
society wherever such a word may be discreetly and 
properly introduced; to be faithful with his more 
intimate friends in representing their defects of 
character and conduct; to be thankful himself for 
receiving such representations; and ever to be on 
the watch to arrest an opportunity for profitable 
conversation. 

MISCELLANEOUS COUNSELS. 

The greatest saints who ever lived, whether under 
the old or new dispensation, are on a level which is 
quite within our reach. The same forces of the 
spiritual world which were at their command, and 
the exertion of which made them such spiritual 
heroes, are open to us also. Why should we not fol- 
low them, even as they followed God and Christ? 
The reason is not to be sought in any disadvantages 
under which we labor in comparison with them. It 
is not that holiness was originally more congenial to 
their nature than to ours. It can be nothing but that 
laggardness of will, that indifference to high moral 
aims, that want of spiritual energy, that cheerful ac- 
quiescence in the popular standard of religion which 
has caused many a soul when "weighed in the bal- 
ances" to be "found wanting," to be counted un- 
worthy of the calling and the kingdom of God. 

If we would bestow our efforts in the spiritual 
268 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

life well and "wisely we need not so much seek to 
do something religious as to do ordinary thing£ 
in a religious manner, cultivating high and loving 
thoughts of God while we do our work, and seeking 
to do it well, where no eyes are upon us, from the 
view of pleasing him; and in all services to our fel- 
low-men thinking of the image of God which lies 
hidden and overlaid with rubbish in their souls, as 
in ours, and of the enormous price of Christ's blood, 
which was paid down for all, showing how high 
must have been God's estimation of each of them. 
We shall never regret any amount of pains taken in 
doing common things as unto the Lord, and in striv- 
ing to evince love to him by means of them. 

The great question is wdiether, after every fall, the 
will recovers its spring and elasticity, and makes a 
fresh start with new and more fervent prayer and 
resolve. In order to any great attainment in the 
spiritual life there must be an indomitable resolve to 
try and try again, and still to begin anew amidst 
much failure and discouragement. It is by a con- 
stant series of new starts that the spiritual life is 
carried on. 

To be right in the practical department of the 
Christian life is summed up in these three things : to 
work devoutly, to fight manfully, and to suffer 
patiently. 

Resolve to know much of the inward life of re- 
ligion. Cultivate in every possible way a spirit of 

269 



Honey from Many Hives 

private devotion. Determine to know the power of 
prayer as distinct from its form. Practice more and 
more in all companies and under all circumstances 
the thought of the presence of God. Seek more and 
more to throw a spiritual meaning and significance 
into your pursuit; to do it more simply and exclu- 
sively from the motive of pleasing God, and less 
from all other motives. Try, by a holy intention, to 
give even to the more trifling actions of the day a re- 
ligious value. Let self occupy as little as possible of 
your thoughts. Care much for God's approval, and 
comparatively little for the impression you are mak- 
ing on others. Thus you will feed the inward light 
with oil, and it will shine. 

Specific resolutions are of the greatest service in 
the spiritual life. They must be framed upon the 
knowledge of our weak points and besetting sins; and 
it is well every morning to draw up one or more of 
them after a foresight of the temptations to which 
we are liable to be exposed. Nothing is so likely to 
destroy that recollectedness of mind which is the 
very atmosphere of the spiritual life as unexpected 
incidents for which we are in no wise prepared, and 
which often stir in us sudden impulses of almost un- 
controllable feeling. Let us arm ourselves for them, 
so far as possible, by a holy resolution, which will 
take its shape from the peculiar nature of the temp- 
tation offered — a resolution, perhaps, to busy our- 
selves in some useful work, and so divert the mind, 
270 



Edward Meyrick Goulburn 

or to give a soft- answer which turns away wrath, or 
to repeat secretly a verse of some favorite hymn, or 
only to cast a mental glance on Christ crucified, 
which indeed is the .nost sovereign remedy against 
temptation known in the spiritual world. 

If the Christian in every part of his active work 
for God sets God before him; if he is very jealous of 
the purity of his motives; if he is diligent in ejacula- 
tory prayer ; if, even in the little crosses and annoy- 
ances of the day, he regards the will of God who 
sends them, and takes them accordingly with sweet- 
ness and buoyancy of spirit; if he cultivates the habit 
of allowing the objects of nature and passing events 
to remind him of spiritual truth, and lead his mind 
upward; if, in short, he turns each incident of life 
into a spiritual exercise, and extracts from each a 
spiritual good — then he is cultivating the internal 
life, while he engages in the external; and while, on 
the one hand, he is expending the oil of grace, he is, 
on the other, laying in a fresh stock of it in his oil- 
vessels. 



Honey from Many Hives 



A DOZEN WORTHIES. 

Besides the eight writers to each of whom, for 
reasons that seemed to us sufficient, we have given 
considerable space there are, of course, very many 
others whose stores of instructive counsel or expe- 
rience might readily be drawn upon to any extent. 
But we have thought best to limit our further ex- 
tracts to twelve authors, all of them loved and prized 
by multitudes and deserving to be introduced to 
those not yet familiar with their fame. Space per- 
mits us, much to our regret, to afford in each case 
only a taste of the quality of the volume in question, 
but these tastes will be in themselves helpful, and 
will serve the additional purpose of making many 
acquainted with good books to which their attention 
might not otherwise be drawn. We shall present 
them in the order of their age. Hence will come 
first 

"the confessions of st. augustine/'' 
This is not the place for a delineation either of the 
life or the writings of this great man, so prominent 
among the fathers of the Church. Born at Tagaste, 
in Numidia, November 13, 354, he died at Hippo, in 
northern Africa, of which place he had been for 
thirty-five years bishop, August 28, 430. He wrote 
the Confessions in the year 398, eleven years after 
his baptism and three years after his consecration as 
272 



A Dozen Worthies 

bishop. There is a charm and simplicity in the style 
rarely, if ever, surpassed, which has endeared the 
little book to great numbers. It affords also a pleas- 
ing insight into the kind of life common in that far- 
distant period. But since the treatise relates almost 
wholly to the experiences of the author previous to 
conversion, his struggles with Manichsean error and 
licentious vice before his deliverance from these toils 
of Satan, it is not, as a whole, very profitable for 
ordinary perusal. His object apparently was to illus- 
trate the goodness and forbearance of God in bring- 
ing him, despite manifold mistakes, infirmities, and 
sins, to a blessed haven of rest, that others might be 
strengthened against despair. Many translations 
of it from the original Latin have been made into 
various modern tongues, and many editions have 
been issued both in separate form and in connection 
with the other works. 

The two sentences most frequently met in quota- 
tion from the Confessions are these : "Thou madest 
us for thyself, and our heart is restless until it rest in 
thee." "Give what thou enjoinest, and enjoin what 
thou wilt; for too little doth he love thee who loves 
anything with thee which he loveth not for thee." 

The account which he gives of his conversion is 
exceedingly beautiful, and with this extract we must 
now be contented : 

"Thou, Lord, didst turn me round toward myself, 
taking me from behind my back where I had placed 

273 



Honey from Many Hives 

me, unwilling to observe myself, and setting me be- 
fore my face that I might see how foul I was, how 
crooked and defiled, bespotted and ulcerous. And 
I beheld and stood aghast ; and whither to flee from 
myself I found not. . . . But when a deep consid- 
eration had from the secret bottom of my soul drawn 
together and heaped up all my misery in the sight of 
my heart, there arose a mighty storm, bringing a 
shower of tears. ... I cast myself down, I know 
not how, under a certain fig tree, giving full vent to 
my tears ; and the floods of mine eyes gushed out an 
acceptable sacrifice to thee. I sent up these sorrowful 
words: How long? how long, 'to-morrow and to- 
morrow?' Why not now? why not this hour an 
end to my uncleanness? So was I speaking and 
weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, 
when, lo ! I heard from a neighboring house a voice, 
as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting and oft re- 
peating, 'Take up and read; take up and read' 
{Tolle, lege). Instantly my countenance altered, I 
began to think most intently whether children were 
wont in any kind of play to sing such words; nor 
could I remember ever to have heard the like. So 
checking the torrent of my tears I arose, interpreting 
it to be no other than a command from God to open 
the book and read the first chapter I should find. I 
seized the volume, opened, and in silence read that 
section on which my eyes first fell : 'Not in rioting 
and drunkenness, not in chambering and wanton- 
274 



A Dozen Worthies 



ness, not in strife and envying: but put ye on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the 
flesh' (Rom. xiii, 13, 14) in concupiscence. Xo 
further would I read; nor needed I. For instantly 
at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of 
serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of 
doubt vanished away. . . . Thence I go in to my 
mother; I tell her; she rejoiceth. I relate in order 
how it took place; she leaps for joy, and triumpheth, 
and blesseth thee." 



WORKS OF JOHN TATTLER. 

Tauler was born at Strasburg about 1290, and 
died there June 16, 1361. He was the greatest 
preacher of his age, but it is not in that his main 
distinction lies. It is in his exceptional religious 
experience, and his connection with that remarkable 
band of Christian men known as "Friends of God." 
This was an extensive but slightly organized 
brotherhood, scattered over the upper provinces of 
the Rhine country, composed of those who sought 
for intimate communion with heaven, and in the 
midst of the abounding iniquities of the times held 
themselves to a high standard of personal piety. 
They laid great stress upon disinterested love, self- 
renunciation, and a constant loving fellowship both 
with one another and with the Holy Spirit. 

Tauler was of honorable family and early devoted 

275 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

to the priestly office. At the age of eighteen he be- 
came a Dominican monk and went to Paris to study 
theology. Returning to Strasburg, he began to 
preach with considerable success, but his sermons 
were not pervaded with the power which comes from 
a personal union with Christ. He was not brought 
into full freedom until more than fifty years of age. 
The instrument of his deliverance from the bond- 
age of the law. from a too formal piety somewhat 
tainted with self-righteousness, was an uneducated 
layman named Nicholas, very many years his junior, 
but well taught in the things of the Spirit. Coming 
from Basel to Strasburg to hear the distinguished 
preacher, he speedily detected the lack in his expe- 
rience, and was enabled to lead him on to much 
greater heights. "When Tauler had once been 
brought, after two years' struggles, to see himself 
and his Saviour in the true light, the change in his 
sermons was immediate and great. The first time 
that he opened his mouth in public fourteen persons 
fell as if dead under the power of the word, and 
nearly thirty others were so deeply moved that they 
remained sitting in the churchyard long after the 
congregation was dismissed, unwilling to move 
away. A great revival began, both among those 
previously religious and among the worldly, a reviv- 
al whose influence in Germany was widespread and 
far-reaching, reaching indeed in some of its effects 
down to the present day. The discourses which his 
276 



A Dozen Worthies 

disciples preserved had a decided influence upon 
Luther, who was accustomed to recommend them as 
the best sermons to be found in the German lan- 
guage. 

For eighteen years after what may be called, per- 
haps, his second conversion, Tauler made progress 
in the divine life, rising to the place of highest es- 
teem among his brethren and being accounted the 
holiest of God's children on earth. Men came from 
all quarters to consult him, and his usefulness con- 
tinually extended. Xor did he lack for persecution, 
that supreme testimonial to goodness. He is every 
way worthy of largest honor and closest study. As 
one has well said : "No idle contemplation or passive 
asceticism finds the approval of Tauler, but a life of 
active love and pity, of patience and meekness — a 
life in the imitation of Christ. Tauler did not con- 
tradict the doctrines of his Church, but he was ani- 
mated by an exalted reformatory spirit; his mysti- 
cism displayed a free, practical, evangelical tendency 
which has given it historical importance; and we 
may appropriately retain for him the title, early 
bestowed, of Doctor Illuminaius" 

The first collected edition of his sermons was 
printed at Leipsic in 1498, and very many others 
have followed. An English translation by Miss 
Winkworth was published at London in 1857, and 
an American reprint, edited by Dr. Hitchcock, was 
issued at New York in 1858. We shall have to con- 

277 



Honey from Many Hives 

fine our selection from his writings to the well- 
known Discourse of Dr. T aider with a Beggar, 
which has been often quoted during these five cen- 
turies, and can never be read without profit: 

"There w T as once a learned man who longed and 
prayed full eight years that God would show him 
some one to teach him the way of truth. And, on a 
time, as he was in a great longing, it was said unto 
him, 'Go to such a church porch, and there wilt thou 
find a man that shall show thee the way to blessed- 
ness.' So thither he went, and found there a poor 
man, whose feet were torn and covered with dust 
and dirt, and all his apparel scarce three hellers' 
[farthings] worth. He courteously saluted him, 
saying, 'God give you a good morning.' 

"To which the beggar replied, 'I never remember 
to have had a bad morning.' 

" 'God prosper you,' said the Doctor. 

" 'What say you?' answered the beggar. 'I never 
was otherwise than prosperous.' 

" 'I wish you all happiness,' replied the Doctor; 
'but what do you mean by speaking in this manner ?' 

" Why,' said the poor man,T never was unhappy.' 

" 'God bless you,' said the Doctor; 'explain your- 
self, for I cannot well understand your meaning.' 

" 'Willingly,' quoth the poor man. 'You wished 
me a good morning, and I answered that I never had 
a bad morning; for if I am hungry I praise God; if 
I suffer cold I praise God; if it hail, snow, or rain, if 
278 



A Dozen Worthies 

the weather be fair or foul, I give praise to God; if 
I am despised by all the world I still give praise to 
God ; and therefore I never met with a bad morning. 
You prayed that God would prosper me; to which I 
answered that I never was otherwise than prosper- 
ous ; for, having learned to live with God,, I know for 
certain that all he does must necessarily be for the 
best; and therefore whatever happens to me, by his 
will or his permission, whether it be pleasant or disa- 
greeable, sweet or bitter, I always receive with joy 
as coming from his merciful hand, for the best, and 
therefore I never was otherwise than prosperous. 
You wished me also all happiness, and I, in like man- 
ner, replied that I had never been unhappy; for I 
have resolved to adhere to the divine will alone, and 
have so absolutely relinquished self-will as to will 
always whatever God wills, and therefore I was 
never unhappy ; for I never desire to have any other 
will than his, and therefore I resign my will entirely 
to him.' 

"Then said the Doctor, 'But what would you say 
if it should be the will of this Lord of majesty to cast 
you down into the bottomless pit? What would 
you do then?' 

" 'How ?' replied he hastily. 'Cast me down into 
the bottomless pit! His goodness holds him back 
therefrom. Yet if he should really do so I have two 
arms to embrace him withal. One arm is true hu- 
mility, by which I am united to his most sacred hu- 

279 



Honey from Many Hives 

manity. The other is my right arm of love, by 
which I am united to his divinity. And with both I 
would embrace him so closely and hold him so firmly 
that he would be obliged to go down with me, and I 
would much rather choose to be in hell with God 
than in heaven without him/ 

'Then understood the Doctor that true resigna- 
tion to the divine will, accompanied with profound 
humility, is the shortest way to God. Having after- 
ward asked the beggar whence he came, the latter 
replied, 'From God.' 

" 'But where/ said the master, 'did you find God ?' 

" 'I found him/ said the other, 'where I forsook 
all creatures/ 

" 'And where or with whom did you leave God ?' 

" 'I left him with the clean of heart, and amongst 
men of good will/ 

" 'But I pray thee tell me who or what art 
thou !' 

"And the beggar replied, 'I am a king. My king- 
dom is in my soul; for I can govern both my ex- 
terior and interior senses so absolutely that all the 
affections and forces of my soul are in perfect 
subjection to me; which kingdom is doubtless more 
excellent than all the kingdoms of this world/ 

" 'What has brought you to this perfection ?' in- 
quired the Doctor. 

"And the other answered, 'My silence, my heaven- 
ward thoughts, my union with God. For I could 
280 



A Dozen Worthies 



rest in nothing less than God. Now I have found 
my God I have everlasting peace and joy in him.' "* 



"theologia germanica." 

This is one of the few great devotional treatises of 
the world, setting forth, as its title-page says, "Many 
fair lineaments of divine truth, and very lofty and 
lovely things touching a perfect life." It was dis- 
covered by Luther and published by him, for the first 
time, in 1516. He says in his preface : "Next to the 
Bible and St. Augustine, no book hath ever come into 
my hands whence I have learned, or would wish to 
learn, more of w T hat God and Christ and man and all 
things are." Luther esteemed Tauler to be its au- 
thor. It is in his style and contains his sentiments, 
but it is now considered more probable that it orig- 
inated at a little later date than Tattler's time, and 
was written by some other member of the class to 
which he belonged. It was the practice of these 
"Friends of God" to conceal their names as much 
as possible when they wrote, lest the desire for fame 
should mingle in their endeavors to be useful. 

No fewer than seventeen editions appeared during 

* We have followed mainly the version given in Francis of Sales's Intro- 
duction to a Devout Life, where it is taken from The Works of f. Thau- 
lerius, D.D., printed at Paris, 1623, and is called " A Conference on the 
Means of Attaining Christian Perfection." Whittier's poem " Tauler " is 
a description of the same incident. 

281 



Honey from Many Hives 

the lifetime of Luther, and up to the present day it 
has continued to be the favorite handbook of devo- 
tion in Germany, as well as being widely circulated 
in other lands. Baron Bunsen says : "With Luther 
I rank this short treatise next to the Bible, but unlike 
him should place it before rather than after St. 
Augustine. This small but golden treatise has been 
now for almost forty years an unspeakable comfort 
to many of my Christian friends. " Its main theme 
is self-renunciation, the laying aside of our own will 
in order to the accomplishment of the divine. It 
dwells upon the intimate union possible between God 
and man through love, enlightenment, the practice 
of virtue, and the cheerful endurance of trials. 
Charles Kingsley says : "To those who really hunger 
and thirst after righteousness, and therefore long to 
know what righteousness is that they may keep it; 
to those who long to be free from sin, and therefore 
wish to know what sin is that they may avoid it; to 
those who cannot help seeing that the doctrine of 
Christ in every man, as the indwelling Word of God, 
is a tenet which runs through the whole Bible, this 
noble little book will recommend itself." 

The style of this treatise on German theology is 
quite mystical, and not many Americans of the pres- 
ent day, especially among the young, would be likely 
to read it through with much satisfaction. We ap- 
pend a few extracts, such as appear to us the most 
important from a practical point of view, and from 
282 



A Dozen Worthies 

these a fair idea of the character of the whole volume 
may be obtained : 

"To learn an art which thou knowest not four 
things are needful. The first and most needful of 
all is a great desire and diligence, and constant en- 
deavor, to learn the art. And where this is wanting 
the art will never be learned. The second is a copy 
or example by which thou mayest learn. The third 
is to give earnest heed to the master and watch how 
he worketh, and to be obedient to him in all things, 
and to trust him and follow him. The fourth is to 
put thine own hand to the work, and to practice it 
with all industry. But where one of these four is 
wanting the art will never be learned and mastered. 
So likewise is it with this preparation to be possessed 
with the Spirit of God." 

"No one can be made perfect in a day. A man 
must begin by denying himself and willingly forsak- 
ing all things for God's sake, and must give up his 
own will, and all his natural inclinations, and 
separate and cleanse himself thoroughly from all 
sins and evil ways. After this let him humbly take 
up the cross and follow Christ." 

"A true lover of God loveth him alike in having 
and in not having, in sweetness and bitterness, in 
good or evil report and the like, for he seeketh only 
the honor of God, and not his own, either in spiritual 
or natural things. Therefore he standeth alike 
unshaken in all things." 

283 , 



Honey from Many Hives 

"All disobedience is contrary to God, and nothing 
else. In truth, no thing is contrary to God ; no crea- 
ture nor creature's work, nor anything that we can 
name or think of, is contrary to God, or displeasing 
to him, but only disobedience and the disobedient 
man. In short, all that is is well-pleasing and good 
in God's eyes, saving only the disobedient man." 

"The man who is truly godlike complaineth of 
nothing, but of sin only. And sin is simply to de- 
sire or will anything otherwise than the one perfect 
good and the one eternal will, or to wish to have a 
will of one's own." 

"Sin is to will, desire, or love otherwise than as 
God doth. Things do not thus will, desire, or love; 
therefore things are not evil, all things are good." 

"Union with God is brought to pass in three ways, 
to wit, by pureness and singleness of heart, by love, 
and by the contemplation of God." 

"Be assured he who helpeth a man to his own will 
helpeth him to the worst that he can." 

"Time is a paradise and outer court of heaven, 
and therein there is only one tree forbidden, that is, 
self-will." 

"There is nothing more precious to God or more 
profitable to man than humble obedience. In his 
eyes one good work wrought from true obedience is 
of more value than a hundred thousand wrought 
from self-will, contrary to obedience." 

"He who is truly a virtuous man would not cease 
284 



A Dozen Worthies 



to be so to gain the whole world; yea, he would 
rather die a miserable death. To him virtue is its 
own reward, and he is content therewith, and would 
take no treasure or riches in exchange for it." 



THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT. 

The Spiritual Combat, which has for its motto the 
words of St. Paul, "A man is not crowned except he 
strive lawfully/' was the production of Lorenzo 
Scupoli, an Italian monk of the order of the Thea- 
tines. He was born in the city of Otranto, 
about 1530, and died at Naples in 16 10. After an 
active social life in populous cities he was driven into 
retirement by some shocking calumny, the exact 
nature of which is not known, and there, in quiet, 
patient meditation, this little book was born. It at- 
tained immediately an enduring popularity, and has 
been blessed to great multitudes of the choicest 
spirits of the earth. While the author yet lived it 
had been spread abroad in fifty editions and had been 
translated into many languages. In one hundred 
and ninety years there were two hundred and sixty 
editions, and all the tongues of Europe, as well as 
some in Asia, had received it. It was the favorite 
companion of Francis of Sales, of all human books 
his guide to holiness, doing more than anything else 
to mold and fashion that marvelous saint. He calls 
Scupoli "my master in all the exercises of the inward 

285 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

life." He carried the book in his pocket for eighteen 
years, reading daily some portion of it, and never re- 
reading it, he says, without profit. Its style is very 
simple and concise. It contains — including the sup- 
plements, wherein are "Maxims for the guidance 
of a soul that wishes to love Jesus Christ perfectly," 
and a treatise on "Inward Peace" — sixty-one short 
chapters. It is a capital manual for those who wish 
to make themselves masters in the art of godly liv- 
ing. The following selections are all we can make 
room for : 

"I will give thee two rules, by observing which 
thou wilt live in this wicked world in as much quiet 
as possible. One is that thou strive with all dili- 
gence to close the door of thy heart more and more 
against desires. For desire is the upright beam of 
the cross, and of disquiet, which will be heavy in 
proportion to the greatness of the desire. And if 
the desires be many, many will be the beams pre- 
pared for many crosses. Then when difficulties and 
hindrances come, so that the desire is not fulfilled, 
behold the transverse beam, the cross of the cross, to 
which the desiring soul is nailed. Whoso, then, 
wishes not for the cross, let him give up the desire; 
for so soon as he gives it up he will have come down 
from the cross. There is no other remedy. 

"The other rule is this : When thou art annoyed 
and offended by others, do not let thy mind dwell 
upon them, or on such thoughts as these : 'that they 
286 



A Dozen Worthies 



ought not so to have treated thee, who they are, or 
who they think themselves to be/ and the like. For 
all this is fuel, and a kindling of anger and wrath 
and hatred. But in such cases turn instantly to the 
strength and commands of God, that thou mayest 
know what thou oughtest to do, and that thy error 
be not greater than theirs." 

"Everything which befalls us comes from God 
for our good, and we may profit by it. And though 
some of these (such as our own failings, or those of 
others) cannot be said to be of God, who willeth not 
sin, yet are they from him, in that he permits them, 
and though able to hinder them hinders them not." 

"In all things make it a general rule to keep thy 
wishes so far removed from every other object that 
they may aim simply and solely at its true and only 
end, that is, the will of God. For in this way will 
they be well ordered and righteous; and thou, in any 
contrary event whatsoever, wilt be not only calm 
but contented; for, as nothing can happen without 
the Supreme Will, thou, by willing the same, wilt 
come at all times both to will and to have all that 
happens and all that thou desirest." 

"As we should do our utmost to recover our peace 
of mind when we have lost it, so we must learn that 
there is nothing which ought to take it away or ever 
disturb it. Be assured that all disquiet is displeas- 
ing in his sight; for be it what it may it is never free 
from imperfection, and always springs from some 
19 287 



Honey from Many Hives 

evil root of self-love. For the disquiet thou feelest 
on account of thy sin comes not from having of- 
fended God, but from having injured thyself. If 
when thou tallest thou art so saddened and dis- 
quieted as to be tempted to despair of advancing and 
doing well, this is a sure sign that thou trustest in 
thyself and not in God. Consider that all these dis- 
quieting things and such like evils are not real evils, 
though outwardly they seem so, nor can they rob us 
of any real good, but are all ordered or permitted by 
God for righteous ends.'' 

"Consider that not only do all the works which 
thou hast done fall short of the light which has been 
given thee to know them, and the grace to execute 
them, but also that they are very imperfect, and but 
too far removed from that pure intention, and due 
diligence and fervor, with which they should be 
done, and which should ever accompany them." 

<k The exercise of doing all things with the single 
aim of oleasino; God alone seems hard at first, but 
will become plain and easy by practice, if with the 
warmest affections of the heart we desire God alone 
and long for him as our only and most perfect good." 

"We are wont to pray most perfectly by placing 
ourselves silently in the presence of God, darting 
from time to time sighs unto him, turning our eyes 
to him with a heart longing to please him, and with 
a quick and burning desire that he would help us to 
love him purely, to honor and serve him/' 
288 



A Dozen Worthies 



u The aim of the whole life of the Christian who 
wills to become perfect must be a striving to form 
the habit of daily forgetting self more and more, and 
accustoming himself not to do his own will, that so 
he may do all things as moved thereto by the sole 
will of God, in order to please and honor him." 

"Study to do some one act with as great fullness 
of will and purity of heart as if in it alone consisted 
all perfection, and the whole pleasure and honor of 
God." 

"Happen what may, remain thou ever steadfast 
and joyful in humble submission to his divine 
providence." 

"The key which unlocks the secrets of the spiritual 
treasury is the knowing how to deny thyself at all 
times and in all things." 

"Purpose in all things to do what thou canst and 
oughtest to do; be indifferent and resigned to all 
that may follow out of thyself." 

"Speak as little as may be of thy neighbor, or of 
anything that concerns him, unless an opportunity 
offers to say something good of him." 

"Let everything be a means of leading thee to 
God, and let nothing hinder thee on the way." 



"RELIGIO MEDICI." 

Sir Thomas Browne, the author of Religio 
Medici, or The Faith of a Physician, was born in 

289 



Honey from Many Hives 



London in 1605, and died at Norwich in 1682. He 
was knighted by King Charles II in 1671, on the 
occasion of his visit to Norwich. The little book 
which has chiefly perpetuated his name and fame, 
though he composed several others, was written 
about the year 1636, simply for his own satisfaction. 
The manuscript, however, was passed from hand to 
hand among his friends, and one of the many copies 
made was surreptitiously published in 1642. This 
compelled Dr. Browne to bring out an authorized 
and corrected edition in the following year, and a 
Latin version, issued in 1644, carried the name of 
the author throughout Europe with almost unparal- 
leled rapidity, translations being at once made into 
French, German, Dutch, and Italian. 

The book contains an account of the author's 
opinions and feelings on moral and religious sub- 
jects, and has been greatly admired and enjoyed by 
very many from that day to this. The style is strik- 
ingly original, and has a peculiar quaint eloquence 
which has commended it to multitudes. It breathes 
a noble charity and tender forbearance toward op- 
ponents, and can scarcely be read without profit, 
although it is rather speculative than spiritual, and 
is not very likely to be of much practical benefit to 
the ordinary mind. He was an earnest seeker for 
knowledge, with a vigorous, independent intellect, 
which caused him to be charged by some with skep- 
ticism. But these charges had small foundation. 
290 



A Dozen Worthies 

He was a truly pious person and a sincere Christian, 
firmly attached to the Church of England. We ap- 
pend sufficient quotations to give the reader a little 
idea of the scope and quality of the book : 

"I could never divide myself from any man upon 
the difference of an opinion, or be angry with his 
judgment for not agreeing w T ith me in that from 
which within a few days I should dissent myself." 

"At the sight of a cross or a crucifix I can dis- 
pense with my hat, but scarce with the thought or 
memory of my Saviour. I cannot laugh at, but 
rather pity, the fruitless journeys of pilgrims, or 
contemn the miserable condition of friars ; for 
though misplaced in circumstances, there is some- 
thing in it of devotion. I could never hear the Ave 
Maria bell without an elevation, or think it sufficient 
warrant, because they erred in one circumstance, for 
me to err in all, that is, in silence and dumb con- 
tempt; whilst therefore they direct their devotions 
to her, I offer mine to God, and rectify the errors of 
their prayers by rightly ordering mine own." 

"When we desire to be informed, it is good to 
contest with men above ourselves; but to confirm 
and establish our opinions it is best to argue with 
judgments below our own, that the frequent spoils 
and victories over their reasons may settle in our- 
selves an esteem and confirmed opinion of our own." 

"In expectation of a better I can with patience 
embrace this life, yet in my best meditations do often 

291 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

desire death. I honor any man that contemns it, nor 
can I highly love any that is afraid of it. For a 
pagan there may be some motives to be in love with 
life ; but for a Christian to be amazed at death,, I 
see not how he can escape this dilemma, that he is 
too sensible of this life or hopeless of the life to 
come." 

"No man can justly censure or condemn another, 
because indeed no man truly knows another. . . . 
Further, no man can judge another, because no man 
knows himself ; for we censure others but as they 
disagree from that humor which we fancy laudable 
in ourselves, and commend others but for that 
wherein they seem to quadrate and consent with 
us." 

"It is a most unjust ambition to desire to engross 
the mercies of the Almighty, not to be content with 
the goods of mind without a possession of those of 
body or fortune ; and it is an error worse than heresy 
to adore these complemental and circumstantial 
pieces of felicity, and undervalue those perfections 
and essential points of happiness wherein we resem- 
ble our Maker. To wiser desires it is satisfaction 
enough to deserve, though not to enjoy, the favors 
of fortune : let Providence provide for fools. It is 
not partiality but equity in God. who deals with us 
but as our natural parents : those that are able of 
body and mind he leaves to their deserts ; to those of 
weaker merits he imparts a larger portion, and 
292 



A Dozen Worthies 



pieces out the defect of one by the access of the 
other." 

"Let me not injure the felicity of others if I say 
I am as happy as any. Ruat caelum, Hat voluntas 
iua (Though the heaven fall, let thy will be done'), 
salveth all ; so that whatsoever happens it is but 
what our daily prayers desire. In brief, I am con- 
tent, and what should Providence add more? Surely 
this is it we call happiness, and this do I enjoy." 

"I can hold there is no such thing as injury; that, 
if there be, there is no such injury as revenge, and 
no such revenge as the contempt of an injury; that 
to hate another is to malign himself ; that the truest 
way to love another is to despise ourselves." 

"Bless me in this life with but peace of my con- 
science, command of my affections, the love of thy- 
self and my dearest friends, and I shall be happy 
enough to pity Caesar. These are, O Lord, the 
humble desires of my most reasonable ambition, and 
all I dare call happiness on earth ; wherein I set no 
rule or limit to thy hand of providence; dispose of 
me according to the wisdom of thy pleasure. Thy 
will be done, though in my own undoing." 



Rutherford's letters. 

The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford have 
long been a classic with the devout. Says Cecil : 
"Were truth the beam, I have no doubt that if 

293 



Honey from Many Hives 



Homer and Virgil and Horace, and all that the 
world has agreed to idolize, were weighed against 
that book, they would be lighter than vanity." Ruth- 
erford was born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, about 
the year 1600. He took his degree of A.M. at Edin- 
burgh in 1 62 1, and for some years acted as professor 
of humanity there. In 1627 he was settled as pastor 
at Anworth in Kirkcudbrightshire. Here he labored 
faithfully for nine years, but saw very little result. 
In 1636 he published a theological work against the 
Arminians, which gained him great credit in some 
quarters; but it led to his being called before the 
High Commission Court, which deprived him of 
his ministerial office and banished him to Aberdeen. 
In this stronghold of episcopacy and Arminianism 
he stayed two years, and from this place two hun- 
dred and twenty of the three hundred and fifty-two 
letters which make up the unabridged collection 
were written. In 1638, the Covenant having again 
triumphed in the land, he hastened back to Anworth. 
But in the following year he was constrained by the 
opinion of his brethren to accept the chair of divinity 
in the University of St. Andrew's, where he spent 
the remainder of his life. He was one of the Scotch 
Commissioners to the Westminister Assembly, and 
had a leading hand in drawing up the Shorter 
Catechism, For a work in the defense of liberty, 
called Lex Rex, he was summoned in 1660 to 
answer before Parliament on the charge of high 
294 



A Dozen Worthies 

treason. But he was on his deathbed, beyond the 
reach of human oppression. His last words were: 
"Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land." He 
entered it March 20, 1661. 

The letters, collected by one who went to the As- 
sembly with him as his secretary, range in their 
dates from 1628 to 1661. They have been trans- 
lated into several languages, and are greatly prized 
by those who seek to grow in holiness. Richard 
Baxter said of them: "Hold off the Bible, such a 
book the world never saw." Some of the expres- 
sions are very striking and live long in the reader's 
mind. But the book is very large (554 octavo 
pages), much of the matter is necessarily of only 
local interest or somewhat commonplace, and not 
many are likely to be attracted by it in these modern 
days. The selections we supply will give a fair idea 
of the fervent spirit of the writer and the peculiari- 
ties of his style : 

"Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of Christ! 
I verily think that the chains of my Lord Jesus are 
all overlaid with pure gold, and that his cross is per- 
fumed, and that it smelleth of Christ." 

"I desire not to go on the lee side or sunny side 
of religion, to put truth betwixt me and a storm ; my 
Saviour did not so for me, who in his suffering took 
the windy side of the hill." 

"If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the 
world would not bark at you." 

295 



Honey from Many Hives 

"Verily I was a child before ; all bygones are but 
bairns' play. I would I could begin to be a Chris- 
tian in sad earnest." 

"O to be dead to all things that are below Christ, 
were it even a created heaven and created grace! 
Holiness is not Christ, nor are the blossoms and 
flowers of the tree of life the tree itself." 

"I never knew, by my nine years' preaching, so 
much of Christ's love as he has taught me in Aber- 
deen by six months' imprisonment. I charge you in 
Christ's name to help me to praise." 

■"Welcome, welcome, Jesus, what way soever thou 
comest, if we can get a sight of thee. And sure I am 
that it is better to be sick, providing Christ come to 
the bedside and draw by the curtains, and say: 
'Courage! I am thy salvation!' than to enjoy health, 
being lusty and strong, and never to be visited of 
God." 

"How sweet is the wind that bloweth out of the 
quarter where Christ is! Every day we may see 
some new thing in Christ ; his love hath neither brim 
nor bottom. O that I had help to praise him ! He 
knoweth that if my sufferings glorify his name, and 
encourage others to stand fast for the honor of our 
supreme lawgiver, Christ, my wages then are paid 
to the full." 

"I have been much self-accused for not referring 
all to God as the last end ; that I do not eat, drink, 
sleep, journey, think, and speak for God; that prac- 
296 



A Dozen Worthies 

tice was so short and narrow, and light so long and 
broad." 

"It is possible that the success answer not your 
desire in this worthy cause. What then? Duties 
are ours, but events are the Lord's." 

"I have benefited by riding alone a long journey, 
in giving that time to prayer, by praying for others ; 
for by making an errand to God for them I have 
gotten something for myself." 

"I see that mortification, and to be crucified to the 
world, is not so highly accounted of by us as it 
should be. O, how heavenly a thing it is to be dead, 
and dumb, and deaf to this world's sweet music!" 

"My faith hath no bed to sleep upon but Omnipo- 
tency." 

"Let him make of me what he pleaseth ; provided 
he make glory to himself out of me I care not. If 
my Lord would be pleased I should desire that some 
were dealt with for my return to Anworth; but if 
that never be I thank God. Anworth is not heaven, 
preaching is not Christ." 

"O that the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, 
were paper, and the sea ink, and the multitude of 
mountains pens of brass, and I able to write that 
paper, within and without, full of the praises of my 
fairest, my dearest, my loveliest, my sweetest, my 
matchless, and my most peerless and marvelous 
well-beloved !" 

"In your temptations run to the promises ; they be 

297 



Honey from Many Hives 

our Lord's branches hanging over the water, that 
our Lord's poor, half-drowned children may take a 
grip of them ; if you let that grip go you will go to 
the bottom/' 

tk 'Build your nest upon no tree here; for ye see 
God hath sold the forest to death; and every tree 
whereon we would rest is ready to be cut down, to 
the end that we might flee and mount up, and build 
upon the Rock, and dwell in the holes of the Rock." 

"It is certain that this is not only good which the 
Lord hath done, but that it is best/' 

"I think that my love to Christ hath feet in abun- 
dance, and runneth swiftly to be at him, but it want- 
eth hands and fingers to apprehend him. I miss 
faith more than love or hunger/' 

"I am sure that the saints, at their best, are but 
strangers to the weight and worth of the incom- 
parable sweetness of Christ. O, we love an un- 
known love when we love Christ. O black sun and 
moon, but O fair Lord Jesus. O black lilies and 
roses, but O fair, ever fair, Lord Jesus. O all fair 
things, black and deformed, without beauty, when 
ye are beside the fairest Lord Jesus." 



"the saint's everlasting rest." 

This book is thought to have been read more 
widely, perhaps, than any other of the sort — except 
a Kempis and Bunyan. It has certainly done an im- 

298 



A Dozen Worthies 

mense amount of good, and of all the one hundred 
and sixty-eight different works credited to the 
author has most effectively perpetuated his fame. 
Richard Baxter (born at Rowton, 1615, dying at 
London, 1691) was one of the most celebrated non- 
conformist divines of England. His early ministry 
of sixteen years (1640-56) at Kidderminster ac- 
complished great things for the renovation of the 
place. After leaving there he was in no one position 
for any great period, owing to the unsettled state of 
the country and the turbulence of the times. But he 
preached mostly in London, suffering a good deal 
of persecution on account of his political sentiments. 

He is said to have written The Saint's Everlast- 
ing Rest, or a Treatise of the Blessed State of the 
Saints in their Enjoyment of God in Heaven, when 
far from home and without any book to consult but 
the Bible, and in such a low state of health as to be 
in constant expectation of death for many months. 
On the title-page of the original edition we find these 
words : "Written by the author for his own use in 
the time of his languishing, when God took him off 
from all public employment." At that time he is 
supposed to have been a little over thirty years of 
age. It was first published in 1650. Very many, 
some of them exceedingly distinguished and useful 
men, have ascribed their conversion to reading it. 
It must be said, however, that a considerable part 
of the treatise is not especially adapted to the fur- 

299 



Honey from Many Hives 

therance of devotion, but is theological rather than 
practical. We make a few extracts from the fourth 
part, which is a work in itself, and the best portion. 
Baxter calls it "The Directory for the getting and 
keeping of the heart in heaven, by the diligent prac- 
tice of that excellent, unknown duty of heavenly 
meditation; being the main thing intended by the 
author in writing this book, and to which all the 
rest is subservient." 

"Let thy eternal rest be the subject of thy frequent 
serious discourse; especially with those that can 
speak from their hearts, and are seasoned themselves 
with a heavenly nature. It is great pity that Chris- 
tians should ever meet together without some talk 
of their meeting in heaven, or of the way to it, 
before they part. It is pity so much time is spent 
in vain conversation and useless disputes, and not a 
serious word of heaven among them." 

"Improve every object and every event to mind 
thy soul of its approaching rest. As all providences 
and creatures are means to our rest, so they point us 
to that as their end. O that Christians were skillful 
in this art! You can open your Bibles; learn to 
open the volumes of creation and providence to read 
there also of God and glory. Thus we might have a 
fuller taste of Christ and heaven in every common 
meal than most men have in a sacrament. If thou 
art weary with labor, let it make the thoughts of thy 
eternal rest more sweet. Is thy body refreshed with 
300 



A Dozen Worthies 

food or sleep ? - Remember the inconceivable re- 
freshment with Christ. Thus every condition and 
creature affords us advantages for a heavenly life, 
if we have but hearts to improve them." 

"A heavenly mind is the freest from sin, because 
it hath truer and livelier apprehensions of spiritual 
things. Is converse with wise and learned men the 
way to make one wise? Much more is converse 
with God. If travelers return home w T ith wisdom 
and experience, how much more he that travels to 
heaven! If our bodies are suited to the air and 
climate we most live in, his understanding must be 
fuller of light who lives with the Father of light. 
A heavenly mind is also fortified against temptation, 
because the affections are thoroughly prepossessed 
with the high and holy delights of another world. 
He that loves most will most easily resist the mo- 
tions of sin/' 

"The liveliest emblem of heaven that I know upon 
earth is when the people of God, in the deep sense 
of his excellency and bounty, from hearts abound- 
ing with love and joy, join together, both in heart 
and voice, in the cheerful and melodious singing of 
his praises." 

"The things contained in heavenly rest are such 
as these: a ceasing from means of grace; a perfect 
freedom from all evils; the highest degree of the 
saint's personal perfection both of body and soul; 
the nearest enjoyment of God the chief good; and a 

301 



Honey from Many Hives 



sweet and constant action of all the powers of body 
and soul in this enjoyment of God." 

"The most difficult part of heavenly contempla- 
tion is to maintain a lively sense of heavenly things 
upon our hearts. It is easier merely to think of 
heaven a whole day than to be lively and affectionate 
in those thoughts a quarter of an hour." 

"Hindrances to leading a heavenly life upon 
earth : living in any known sin ; an earthly mind ; 
the company of the ungodly; frequent disputes 
about lesser truths, and a religion that lies only in 
opinions; a proud and lofty spirit; a slothful spirit." 



THE NONSUCH PROFESSOR. 

The full title of this remarkable book is, The Non- 
such Professor in his Meridian Splendor; or, The 
Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians, laid open 
in Seven Sermons, at All-Hallozufs Church, London 
Wall, by William Seeker. Of the author very little 
is known except that he was a dissenting minister of 
the seventeenth century who preached at Tewkes- 
bury and at London. The book first appeared in 
1660. It has been well styled "a breviary of re- 
ligion," also "a beautiful little work, worth its 
weight in gold." It is marked by eminent spiritu- 
ality and great concentration of thought. Some of 
the expressions are very quaint and pungent. The 
text of the entire discourse — for though called seven 
302 



A Dozen Worthies 



sermons it is printed as one — is, "What do ye more 
than others?" And its perusal is well calculated to 
stimulate Christian activity. We reproduce a few 
of the pearls found in this old casket, assuring the 
reader that there are plenty more there just as 
good : 

"If the mercies of God be not loadstones to draw 
us to heaven they will be millstones to sink us to 
perdition." 

"If the life of Christ be not your pattern the death 
of Christ will never be your pardon." 

"Where self is the end of our actions Satan is the 
rewarder of them." 

"As the shadow of the sun is largest when his 
beams are lowest, so we are always least when we 
make ourselves the greatest." 

"How many professors are there who have light 
enough to know what should be done, but have not 
love enough to do what they know !" 

"If the sun be eclipsed but one day it attracts more 
spectators than if it shone a whole year." 

"The water without the ship may toss it, but it is 
the water within the ship which sinks it." 

"To do evil for good is human corruption; to do 
good for good is civil retribution; but to do good for 
evil is Christian perfection." 

"A covetous man is fretful because he has not so 
much as he desires; but a gracious man is thankful 
because he has more than he deserves." 



Honey from Many Hives 

"W e do not sail to glory in the salt sea of our own 
tears, but in the red sea of a Redeemer's blood." 

"We are so far from paying the utmost farthing 
that at the utmost we have not a farthing to pay." 

"Our worldly comforts would be a sea to drown 
us if our crosses were not a plank to save us." 

"If youth be sick of the zvill-nots, old age is in 
danger of dying of the shall-nots." 

"God hath a crown for the runner but a curse for 
the runaway." 

"This is the day of God's long-suffering; but the 
judgment day will be the day of the sinner's long- 
suffering." 

"All they who refuse and reject Christ as a re- 
fining fire must be obliged to meet and feel him as a 
consuming fire." 

"If the night of death find thee graceless the day 
of judgment will find thee speechless." 

"God has three sorts of servants in the world: 
some are slaves, and serve him from a principle of 
fear; others are hirelings, and serve him for the sake 
of wages; others are sons, and serve him under the 
influence of love." 

"To bless God for mercies is the way to increase 
them. To bless God for miseries is the way to 
remove them." 

"No Christian has so little from Christ but there 
is ground for praise; and no Christian has so much 
but he has need of prayer." 
3°4 



A Dozen Worthies 

"By fasting the body learns to obey the soul; by 
praying the soul learns to command the body." 

"Faith is the great receiver and love is the great 
disburser." 

"The only way to keep our crowns on our heads is 
to cast them down at his feet." 

"When once a man becomes a god to himself he 
then becomes a devil to others." 

"It is better to lose the smiles of men than the 
souls of men." 

"Reader, I would neither have you be idle in the 
means nor make an idol of the means." 

"A man cab never enjoy himself till he be brought 
to deny himself." 

"The covenant of grace without us turns precepts 
into promises, but the spirit of grace within us turns 
promises into prayers." 

"Good works may be our Jacob's staff to walk 
with on earth, yet they cannot be our Jacob's ladder 
to climb to heaven with. To lay the salve of our 
services upon the wound of our sins is as if a man 
who is stung by a wasp should wipe his face with a 
nettle, or as if a person should busy himself in sup- 
porting a tottering fabric with a burning firebrand. 
In proof of sanctification good works cannot be 
sufficiently magnified; but in point of justification 
good works cannot be sufficiently nullified. The 
lamp of duty can only shine clearly as it is trimmed 
with the oil of mercy." 

305 



Honey from Many Hives 

"the art of always rejoicing/' 
Alphonsus de Sarasa, author of the book with the 
above title, was born of Spanish parentage in Flan- 
ders, 1618. He was a ripe scholar, a profound 
philosopher, and a great preacher. His many labors 
early consumed a feeble frame, so that he died at the 
age of forty-eight. But before departing he gave to 
the world, in 1664, a work which has well perpetu- 
ated his fame. Weigel, who translated it from the 
Latin into German, styles it "an incomparable and 
golden book." The distinguished Leibnitz gave it 
the highest praise. The large work, in fifteen trea- 
tises, is now very rare; but a compendium of it 
drawn up by the author himself, translated into 
English from the Italian version, was published in 
Boston twenty-five years ago. It is from this edition 
we make our extracts : 

"As Epictetus well says, men are troubled not by 
things, but by the opinions they have about things. 
And the mischief of such ideas consists in this, that 
I wish to see everything done according to my 
fancy; and because this does not happen I am an- 
noyed at everything. This is the one thing in the 
world which afflicts us, the sole wellspring of all our 
troubles, the opinion that nothing is done as it ought 
to be; by which we mean that nothing is done as we 
would have it. In order to reach peace we must 
correct this folly. What happens as we wish will 
make us most happy." 
306 



A Dozen Worthies 

"The thought that God regulates all human events 
with infinite wisdom, that everything happens by the 
supreme design of God, is of the greatest use in com- 
posing the mind to peace. It is sufficient to know 
that all is governed by God, that 'nothing is done in 
the world of sense and sight/ as St. Augustine af- 
firms, 'which is not by command or permission from 
that invisible court.' Nothing which takes place in 
nature happens by chance. And do not actions 
which proceed from the free will of man happen 
by God's disposing providence? We read in 
Scripture that, having often foreseen them, he de- 
scribed them to the prophets many years before, and 
they came to pass afterward exactly as he had pre- 
dicted. How could he know of them so long before, 
and with such certainty, if chance and not his divine 
mind had directed them ?" 

"The providence of God, in order not to interfere 
in the least with man's free will, having foreseen in 
the immense volume of events, and well weighed, 
how each person would have acted under such or 
such circumstances, selected those circumstances and 
that position in which man could use his free choice 
in such a way that his free action should lead infalli- 
bly to that which God, in his wisdom, had fore- 
ordained. For if you look at the proximate cause 
leading to the result it may ^ often appear to you to 
be chance; but if you wish to enter into the mind of 
God, who remotely disposes the said causes, you will 

307 



Honey from Many Hives 

understand clearly the deep counsel which produces 
that effect. I see it in the history of Joseph, as in 
that of many others." 

"We ought to consider all well done which is 
done by God. Why should I feel disturbed about 
human events when I see infinite wisdom presiding 
over and ruling them? Am I so foolish as to be- 
lieve that God does not know what is best to be 
done; or that, though knowing it, he does not wish 
to do it; or that, wishing it, he is not able to do it? 
Whatever may come I will certainly approve of it. 
Nor can I do better than spare myself the least doubt 
as to God's will being the best." 

"God selects that state of life which is most suita- 
ble for each person. In no other state of life would 
my salvation be so secure, nor in any other state 
could I so w r ell promote his glory. Whatever I am, 
I am from God; and only because I am from 
God I am what I am. And it is good for me to 
be thus; nor, if I could, would I wish to be other- 
wise than I am, for fear of opposing so much wis- 
dom." 

"He who is contented with his state of life ought 
also to be content with those things which led to it. 
Do not lose your peace if, after having made use of 
the means necessary for succeeding in your intention, 
it was not the will of God that you succeed; for, if he 
does not wish, though you were to move heaven 
and earth you could not even raise yourself a hand's 
308 



A Dozen Worthies 

breadth from your position. Xor, if you wish to live 
happily, must you compare the condition of others 
with your own. For if you wish to compare your- 
self with others you must weigh all the troubles of 
their state, nor wish to put them aside and only con- 
sider the happy side; then compare the blessings and 
the evils of your state with the blessings and the evils 
of those whom you envy, and you will see clearly 
that nothing is wanting to you, and that all has been 
dealt out to you justly.' ' 

"If we are pleased with our own state of life we 
ought to be pleased with everything belonging to it. 
I ought to be content with my poverty, and not wish 
to change it, because it is the state in which God 
wishes me to be; if I am satisfied with what I am, 
what can deprive me of peace?" 

"We ought to be content with the annoyances in- 
cident to our state of life. Do you suppose that any 
state of life is without its peculiar trials and vexa- 
tions? If so, you are mistaken. And it would be 
necessary for us not to be men, if we would not 
suffer calamity. He who wishes that the winds 
should not blow, or the waves be in motion, does not 
wish to sail, but to remain in the midst of the ocean 
without reaching the port. And what are evil 
tongues, evil-speaking, murmurings, calamities, and 
injurious words but winds which guide us to our de- 
sired haven? Evils would not disturb us were it 
not for the opinion that we have of evils, for we 

309 



Honey from Many Hives 

often think those things a hindrance which wonder- 
fully assist us in our journey toward eternal hap- 
piness. How often by the very circumstances which 
I considered evils I have been led to that prosperity 
to which I should not have attained under more 
ordinary and peaceful circumstances!" 

"Shall I wish to be otherwise than I am when by 
means of those very daily things which happen to me 
I am being conducted to eternal happiness? If you 
can say with the poet, 'Wish to be what you are, and 
wish nothing more than this/ you have found the 
short road to happiness, and also the only true joy of 
life. You can attain to this in any station, whatever 
it may be; and if you are content with your own be- 
cause it pleases God to place you in it you are already 
happy." 

"There is no other true happiness in the world 
except that of a soul content with its condition. 
This is the way to carry heaven about with you, and 
to be filled with the delights of paradise in this valley 
of tears. If you seek elsewhere for happiness you 
will seek in vain." 

"Perfection consists in this, not only in bearing 
the changes of human fortune w T ith patience, but in 
welcoming them and approving of them. This is 
true happiness, to wish things to be as they are, and 
not otherwise; this is the root of that grand 'Thy 
will be done/ by saying which we not only give God 
our will, but also our intellect." 
310 



A Dozen Worthies 

"We must, in order to have always a right frame 
of mind, have a high conception of divine wisdom, 
for this is the foundation of all human tranquillity. 
Nor is it necessary for us to search into the reasons 
of everything in order to keep our mind calm and 
quiet; it is only necessary to believe firmly that noth- 
ing can take place in nature but what is ordered by 
the divine providence of God." 

"Whatever happens to me, I will be on thy side, 
O my God, and will take thy part amongst men, 
and I will bravely affirm that all happens to me 
justly; for I shall ever be able to fight better when, 
lamenting my evil passions, I defend thy holy de- 
crees." 

"If, O reader, this divine sentiment is firmly 
rooted in your mind you are already happy and 
blessed; you rejoice in tribulation, because your 
faith sees clearly that those grievous things which 
you suffer are ordered by the wise providence of 
God, and you rejoice that they happen in order that 
God's divine will may be accomplished. This is the 
source of all joy. From this fountain springs that 
peace which overflows our heart and which keeps it 
at rest amidst the storms and turmoil of human 
events. He who attains to this breathes a pure air 
disquieted by no tempest; he has found the peace 
which the world cannot give,, and which gives him 
happiness to the full." 

311 



Honey from Many Hives 

"the practice of the presence of god/' 
The seventeenth century gave us, as we have 
already seen, Sir Thomas Browne, Rutherford, 
Baxter, Seeker, and Sarasa. It gave us also a much 
less distinguished man than these, one who was 
altogether unlearned; who after having been a sol- 
dier and a footman was admitted as a lay brother 
among the barefooted Carmelites at Paris in 1666, 
and was afterward known by the appellation of 
Brother Lawrence, although Nicholas Herman was 
his original name. Converted at the age of eighteen, 
he walked before God on the earth until he was 
eighty, when he was received up. He only left be- 
hind him fifteen short letters, but their piety rescued 
them from oblivion ; and prefixed to them are certain 
conversations with him written by one of his con- 
temporaries and published at the instance of the 
Cardinal de Noailles. The substance of the ideas 
presented will be discovered in the following para- 
graphs : 

"He told me that the foundation of the spiritual 
life in him had been a high notion and esteem of God 
in faith ; which when he had once well conceived he 
had no other care at first but faithfully to reject 
every other thought, that he might perform all his 
actions for the love of God. That there needed 
neither art nor science for going to God, but only a 
heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing 
but him, or for his sake, and to love him only." 
312 



A Dozen Worthies 

"He told me that all consists in one hearty renun- 
ciation of everything which we are sensible does 
not lead to God; that we might accustom ourselves 
to a continual conversation with him, with freedom 
and in simplicity. That we need only to recognize 
God intimately present with us, to address ourselves 
to him every moment. That the most excellent 
method he had found of going to God was that of 
doing our common business without any view of 
pleasing men, and (as far as we are capable) purely 
for the love of God. That his prayer was nothing 
else but a sense of the presence of God, his soul 
being at that time insensible to everything but divine 
love; he continued with God, praising and blessing 
him with all his might, so that he passed his life in 
continual joy. That we ought not to be weary of 
doing little things for the love of God, who regards 
not the greatness of the work, but the love with 
which it is performed." 

"I have no will but that of God, which 1 endeavor 
to accomplish in all things, and to which I am so 
resigned that I would not take up a straw from the 
ground against his order, or from any other motive 
but purely that of love to him." 

"I make it my business only to persevere in his 
holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple 
attention and a general fond regard for God, which 
I may call an actual presence of God; or, to speak 
better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation 

3 T 3 



Honey from Many Hives 

of the soul with God. My continual care has been, 
for above forty years, to be always with God; and 
to do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing which 
may displease him ; and this without any other view 
than purely for the love of him, and because he 
deserves infinitely more." 

"Think of God the most you can. Let one accus- 
tom himself, by degrees, to this small but holy exer- 
cise ; nobody perceives it, and nothing is easier than 
to repeat often in the day these little internal adora- 
tions. A little lifting up of the heart suffices; a little 
remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, 
are prayers which, however short, are very accept- 
able to God." 

"There is not in all the world a kind of life more 
sweet and delightful than that of a continual con- 
versation with God. For the right practice of it the 
heart must be empty of all other things. The pres- 
ence of God is a subject which, in my opinion, 
contains the whole spiritual life, and whoever duly 
practices it will soon become spiritual." 

"Let all our employment be to know God; the 
more one knows him the more one desires to know 
him. And as knowledge is commonly the measure 
of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowl- 
edge shall be, the greater will be our love ; and if our 
love of God were great we should love him equally 
in pains and pleasures." 
3i4 



A Dozen Worthies 



SELF-RENUNCIATION. 

The Abbe Guillore, a contemporary of Fenelon 
and belonging to the same school of piety, lived just 
about two centuries ago. His monument is the 
treatise which he wrote on Self -Renunciation; or. 
The Art of Dying to Self and Living for the Love 
of Jesus. The book was composed, in French, in 
the form of "Conferences" addressed to a young 
friend under the author's instruction. Most of it is 
as well adapted to the Protestants of to-day as to 
the Roman Catholics of the past, for whom it was 
primarily prepared. Some of the topics taken up 
are: "Self-surrender the Only Path to Perfection;" 
"The Importance of Little Things;" "The Sensitive- 
ness of the Holy Spirit;" "Half-hearted Service;" 
"The Interior Life of Jesus;" "Government of the 
Tongue;" "The Greatness of God's Mercy." The 
following extracts will give a taste of the quality of 
the work : 

"God's glory and forgetfulness of self — such 
must be the aim of all true spiritual life. We offer 
up our life to God's glory when every action, how- 
ever trifling, is performed for his sake. There is 
also a passive surrender to God, which lies chiefly 
in a loving acceptance of whatever he may lay upon 
us. He deigns to accept all, even our most trifling 
actions; nothing is too worthless to be offered to 
him, nothing is really unimportant, since we can 
serve him thereby. Be assured there is no happiness 

3i5 



Hoxey from Many Hives 

to be found on earth save in God, and in a complete 
loving surrender of self to him." 

"There are three things which are the ground- 
work of all perfection, and which are attainable by 
all who will seek them steadfastly. These are, first, 
a calm exterior; second, a quiet heart; and, third, 
simplicity in our dealings with God. External com- 
posure is a great help to interior recollection. Of 
course it is true that a recollected mind tends to 
produce external tranquillity, but it is no less true 
that habitual external calmness and self-control do 
gradually promote interior recollection, and those 
who would lead a hidden life must cultivate a calm, 
unruffled demeanor in outward things. Watch the 
lives of those who are closely united to Jesus, and 
you will find that even externally they bear the signs 
of an indescribable calmness and peace which none 
else can know." 

"An eager longing for success, or anxiety to 
prove our own wisdom and judgment, tends also to 
produce restlessness and perplexity of heart. Herein 
lies real peace of mind and true detachment. The 
soul that has learned to stay itself upon God does 
not care to risk the loss of such heavenly rest for the 
turmoil of this world's interests, and with the aid 
of his grace it fulfills all needful exterior avocations 
without being soiled or disturbed by their contact. 
Before you can acquire a thoroughly tranquil heart 
you must learn to care but little for the consequences 
316 



A Dozen Worthies 



of what you do, leaving all such matters to God; 
laboring to the best of your ability for him, and 
being perfectly satisfied that he should grant success 
or failure as he sees fit." 

"But one thing in this life is needful to you, that 
is, a heart stayed wholly on God." 

"He never allows his creatures to exceed him in 
generosity. He appreciates your sacrifice, and will 
restore it fourfold, filling your soul with the gift of 
his own peace." 

"It is a great mistake to fancy that attention to 
trifles in the spiritual life is unnecessary, or that 
God's glory is only promoted in great things; it is 
often harder to serve him well in seeming trifles than 
in those we call great. Real self-mortification is 
perpetual and knows no limit; its sincerity lies just 
in that very fact, and in the necessity for bringing 
every movement of the heart and of the body into 
captivity. If you would advance in true holiness 
you must aim steadily at perfection in little things, 
and beware of supposing that you seek God's glory 
in anything savoring of display and outward dem- 
onstration. Great works seen and known of men 
are too likely to carry the insidious poison of self- 
satisfaction in their rear, filling us with a pleasant 
impression of our own merits and importance as 
compared with others. But when a man is steadfast 
in conquering himself in little things, simply to 
please God, such a single aim, and the detachment 

3*7 



Honey from Many Hives 

which comes therewith, is a true offering to him, 
and surely promotes his glory." 

"Depend upon it, a ready spirit of censoriousness 
is the rock on which many good men make ship- 
wreck. Whenever it is possible, defend the absent, 
or, if that is impossible, turn the conversation." 

"In the spiritual life one's sole aim should be to do 
all that depends upon ourselves, and then to bear 
patiently whatever depends upon God only. Those 
who have learned to wait patiently have made a 
vast stride in the spiritual life." 

"It is a good rule in all we do to think less of the 
duty to be fulfilled than of how we may keep close 
to God while fulfilling it, so that our hearts may 
be more engrossed by him than our hands with 
work." 

"Heedlessness and levity are flood gates through 
which spiritual blessings soon flow away, and the 
soul is left poor and barren." 

"Habitual slackness is more destructive than 
casual acts of mortal sin ; these last carry their own 
terror and warning, while the many trifling sins 
which accumulate where there is no effort to attain 
perfection do not startle the conscience, and often 
pass unnoticed." 

"If our sufferings are caused by our fellow-men, 
how often we fail to look beyond the immediate 
cause to God, who is their real author, and in so 
doing turn such crosses to our own hurt, giving way 
3i8 



A Dozen Worthies 



to complaints, self-defense, or revenge, and calling 
our troubles hard and unjust." 

"Suffering is inevitable; the question is, will you 
use it to your sanctification ? It is a hard thing to 
suffer unprofitably when you have the power of 
turning all your crosses into blessings through that 
union with our dearest Lord which alone teaches us 
to lose ourselves in finding him. You cannot set 
aside the discipline; you may throw away all its 
healing grace." 

"True obedience waits gently and without weari- 
ness, accepting what is in accordance with its own 
wishes, or the contrary, in the same trustful, patient 
spirit, having but the one aim — to please God. 
Lovingly accept whatever he may lay upon you." 

"the love of religious perfection." 

It was less than half a century ago, in 1851, that 
there appeared in Rome a treatise with the above 
title, which has passed through many editions in 
different places and has been translated into several 
languages. Some have compared it with The Imi- 
tation of Christ and The Spiritual Combat, to both 
of which it bears resemblance. The author was 
Joseph Bayma, of whom we know nothing except 
that, like Rodriguez, Guillore, and Sarasa, he was 
a highly esteemed member of the Society of Jesus. 
He wrote the volume primarily for his own improve- 
ment, as an aid in carrying out the full idea of a 
21 319 



Honey from Many Hives 

religious life, dividing it into three books, which 
treat respectively of the motives, means, and exer- 
cise of virtue. Among many other excellent things 
he says : 

"Whoever takes no care to advance has already 
begun to retreat, and become worse than he think- 
eth. If thou wilt preserve what thou hast, aim at 
what is more perfect." 

"Let our study be to study what is more perfect. 
If we fail, let us be sorry for it ; if we have an oppor- 
tunity of practicing virtue, let us not pass it un- 
heeded; let us take care to carry off each day some 
little victory over our vices." 

"If thou be still solicitous about earthly goods, 
about the opinions of men, and worldly glory, be- 
hold thou hast not yet given thy whole heart to God, 
but kept it for thyself and the world." 

"Meditation is the workshop of the spirit, the 
auxiliary of virtues, and the nursery of good works. 
It is the noblest exercise of self-denial, the torch of 
the mind, the life of the will, the bearer of divine 
grace, the anticipated likeness and imitation of the 
joys of heaven." 

"Blessed is he that studies daily to know Christ 
more perfectly and advance in his love. The knowl- 
edge of Christ pours joy and sweetness into the soul, 
and renders the exercise of all virtues most easy." 

"Thou shouldst care for nothing else in this world 
but to become daily more dear to Christ." 
320 



A Dozen Worthies 

"He that knows but little cannot know how much 
remains for him to learn. But he that hath learned 
much knows so much the better how much remains 
yet to be learned by him. So they that are still full 
of passions and unmortified in their will often think 
that they have made sufficient progress; but holy 
and perfect men mourn, and think themselves very 
imperfect, for they see how much perfection they 
have still to acquire." 

"Think not thyself holy, all at once, because thou 
dost foster holy desires ; for it is one thing to desire 
and another thing to execute what is holy." 

"If anything good befall thy brother, think it has 
fallen to thyself ; be glad, and congratulate him from 
thy heart. If any evil, think it has happened to thy- 
self; be sorry, and sympathize with him from thy 
very soul. If he seeks anything refuse him not; if 
anything annoys him, do it not; if he has formed a 
judgment or opinion about anything, resist it not. 
Be gentle, meek, polite, humble of heart; do not 
contend or murmur; ridicule not, satirize not, and, 
unless it be thy duty, reprehend not." 

"Virtues are barely acquired after much labor, 
and are quickly lost by idleness." 

"We know not whether God may not have de- 
creed that on our progress should depend the salva- 
tion of many men, whose blood he will hereafter 
demand at our hands." 

"O that thou wouldst frequently turn over in 

321 



Honey from Many Hives 

mind the thought of a blessed eternity ! Assuredly 
such a thought would excite thee to undergo labors, 
stimulate thee to abandon thine own ease, and urge 
thee to value nothing but virtue." 

"Certainly pagans and infidels, and all that have 
no hope, may well be sad; but by what right is a 
servant of God overpowered with sadness in labors 
and crosses to which the kingdom of heaven is 
promised ?" 

"I call heaven and earth to witness that I had 
rather be a poor worm by the will of God than a 
seraph on high without it. I had rather, with the 
will of God, do nothing and be a martyr of idleness, 
than without it convert the whole world and be a 
martyr for the faith. I had rather, with the will of 
God, lie hidden in some wretched corner under a 
bushel than without it shine resplendent in the 
heavens. I had rather be a stock, with the will of 
God, than without it work miracles. Provided 
always I execute what is well pleasing in thy divine 
sight, wherever I am, whatever I do, I am quite 
great enough, quite rich enough, quite happy 
enough, quite wise enough. " 
322 



A List of Titles 



A LIST OF TITLES, 

For the convenience of the reader, and his as- 
sistance if disposed to procure for himself a set of 
these books that he may make his own selections, 
we append a list of titles, with publishers. Some of 
the volumes are no doubt out of print, and only to 
be picked up at secondhand stores. In the case of 
some, notably The Imitation of Christ, there is a 
vast variety of editions. No attempt has been made 
to catalogue these. It could not be done without 
an expenditure of time entirely out of proportion to 
any probable benefit that would be conferred. The 
authors are named here, as nearly as possible, in 
chronological order; only such authors and books 
being mentioned as are quoted from in the previous 
pages. The number of authors, it will be seen, is 
twenty, and the volumes about forty. 
Augustine's Confessions. James Parker & Co., 
Oxford and London, 1868. Pp. 248. 
Rivington, London. i6mo. 
Andover, i860. 
Tauler. Selections from the Life and Sermons of 
the Rev. Doctor John Tauler. Roberts 
Brothers, Boston, 1888. Pp. 155. 
Theologia Germanica. Translated from the Ger- 
man by Susanna Winkworth. With a Pref- 
ace by the Rev. Charles Kingsley, and an 

3 2 3 



Honey from Many Hives 



Introduction by Prof. Calvin E. Stowe, D.D. 
W. F. Draper, Andover, Mass., and John P. 
Jewett, Boston, i860. Pp. 275. 

A Kempis. Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kem- 
pis. With an Introductory Essay by Thomas 
Chalmers, D.D., and a Life of the Author, 
by C. Ullmann, D.D. Gould & Lincoln, Bos- 
ton, 1863. Pp. 283. 
D. Lothrop & Co., Boston. Pp. 207. 

— An Extract of the Christian's Pattern; or. A 
Treatise on the Imitation of Christ, written 
in Latin by Thomas a Kempis. By Rev. 
John Wesley, A.M. Eaton & Mains, New 
York. 24 mo, pp. 196. 

Scupoli. The Spiritual Combat. James Parker, 
Oxford and London. Pp. 242. 

Francis of Sales. Introduction to a Devout Life 
The Catholic Publication Society, New 
York, 1870. Pp. 396. 

A Treatise on the Love of God. P. O'Shea, 

New York, 1868. Pp. 591. 

Practical Piety. Webb & Levering, Louis- 
ville. Pp. 360. 

Rodriguez. Christian Perfection. Burns & Oates, 
London. 2 vols. Pp. 408, 373. 

Browne. Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne, 
M.D., with the Observations of Sir Kenelm 
Digby. Cassell & Co., New York. Pp. 192. 

Baxter. The Saint's Everlasting Rest; or, A 
3 2 4 



A List of Titles 

Treatise on the Blessed State of the Saints 
in Their Enjoyment of God in Heaven. By- 
Richard Baxter. Abridged by Benjamin 
Fawcett. Worthington Company, New 
York, 1888. Pp. 297. 

Taylor. Holy Living and Dying; with Prayers: 
containing the Complete Duty of a Christian. 
By the Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. With a 
Memoir of the Author. D. Appleton & Co., 
New York, 1865. P P- 535- 

Rutherford. Letters of the Rev. Samuel Ruther- 
ford, with a Sketch of his Life, by the Rev. 
A. A. Bonar. Robert Carter and Brothers, 
New York, 1866. Pp. 554. 

A Garden of Spices. Extracts from the Re- 
ligious Letters of Rev. Samuel Rutherford. 
By Rev. L. R. Dunn. Eaton & Mains, New 
York. 

Secker. The Nonsuch Professor in his Meridian 
Splendor ; or, The Singular Actions of Sanc- 
tified Christians, laid open in Seven Sermons 
at All-Hallow's Church, London Wall. By 
William Secker. To which is added The 
Wedding Ring, a Sermon by the same au- 
thor. With an introduction by C. P. Krauth, 
D.D. Sheldon & Co., New York, i860. Pp. 
320. 

■ A String of Pearls from an Old Casket. P. E. 

Book Society, Philadelphia, i860. Pp. 160. 

325 



Honey from Many Hives 



Sarasa. Compendium of the Art of Always Re- 
joicing. By F. Alphonsus de Sarasa. H. A. 
Young & Co., Boston, 1872. Pp. 140. 

Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God 
the Best Rule of a Holy Life ; being Conver- 
sations and Letters of Brother Lawrence. 
Willard Tract Repository, Boston. Pp. 67. 

Guillore. Self-Renunciation. From the French 
of Guillore. With an Introduction by the 
Rev. T. T. Carter. Rivingtons, London, 
Oxford, and Cambridge, 1871. Pp. 345. 

F^nelon. Christian Counsel on Divers Matters 
Pertaining to the Inner Life. G. W. Mc- 
Calla, Philadelphia. Pp. 160. 

Spiritual Letters. Same publisher. Pp. 56. 

Selections from the Writings of Fenelon, with 

a Memoir of His Life. By Mrs. Follen. 
James Monroe & Co., Boston, 1858. Pp. 
374. 

Bayma. The Love of Religious Perfection; or, 
How to Awaken, Increase, and Preserve It 
in the Religious Soul. ' By Father Joseph 
Bayma. John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, 
1865. Pp. 254. 

Upham. Principles of the Interior or Hidden Life, 
designed particularly for the consideration 
of those who are seeking Assurance of Faith 
and Perfect Love. By Thomas C. Upham. 
D. S. King, Boston, 1843. Pp- 4^ 2 - 

326 



A List of Titles 



Upham. A Treatise on Divine Union; designed to 
point out some of the Intimate Relations be- 
tween God and Man in the higher forms of 
Religious Experience. H. V. Degen, Boston, 
1851. Pp. 435. 

Life of Faith. Harper & Brothers, New York, 

1864. Pp. 480. 

Life of Madame Catharine Adorna ; including 

some leading facts and traits in her religious 
experience, together with explanations and 
remarks tending to illustrate the doctrine of 
Holiness. Harper & Brothers, 1864. Pp. 
249. 

Life and Religious Opinions and Experience 

of Madame de la Mothe Guyon; together 
with some account of the personal history 
and religious opinions of Fenelon, Arch- 
bishop of Cambray. Harper & Brothers, 
New York, 1874. Two vols., pp. 431, 377. 

Faber. A Sketch of his Life, together with Selec- 
tions from his Devotional Works in Poetry 
and Prose, by Rev. James Mudge. Christian 
Witness Company, Boston, 1885. Pp. 264. 

— — Spiritual Conferences. By F. W. Faber, D.D. 
John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, 1867. Pp. 
472. 

Growth in Holiness. By F. W. Faber, D.D. 

Murphy & Co., Baltimore, 1866. Pp. 494. 
(There are also six other prose works of Fa- 

3 2 7 



Honey from Many Hives 

ber's, published by Murphy, whose titles are 
given on a previous page. And there are 
many editions of or selections from his 
poems. There is an unabridged edition of 
the Hymns, pp. 427, published by H. H. 
Richardson & Co., New York, and Thomas 
Richardson & Son, London.) 

Goulburn. Thoughts on Personal Religion ; being 
a Treatise on the Christian Life in its two 
chief elements. Devotion and Practice. D. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1866. Pp. 428. 

Pursuit of Holiness ; a sequel to Thoughts on 

Personal Religion. Intended to carry the 
reader somew T hat further onward in the 
Spiritual Life. D. Appleton & Co., New 
York, 1870. Pp. 261. 

The Idle Word ; Short Religious Essays upon 

the Gift of Speech, and Its Employment in 
Conversation. D. Appleton & Co., New 
York, 1866. Pp. 208. 

An Introduction to the Devotional Study of 

the Holy Scriptures. D. Appleton & Co., 
New York, 1866. Pp. 193. 

328 



INDEX 



A PAGE 

Absolute Surrender. 199 

Advancement, Spiritual 52 

44 Art of Always Rejoicing " 306 

Augustine, Confessions of 272 

B 

Baxter, Richard 298 

Bayma, Joseph 1 319 

Brief Petitions 43 

Brotherly Love 54 

Browne, Sir Thomas 289 

c 

Care of Our Time 135 

44 Christian Perfection " 51 

44 Confessions of St. Augustine".. 272 

Conformity to the Will of God 59 

Contentedness 144 

Conversation 99 

Counsels, Miscellaneous 268 

Cross, The 38 

Crosses, Continual 171 

D 

Daily Faults 155 

Degrees of Divine Union 201 

Devotional Reading. , 9 

Devotional Use of Scripture 263 

Divine Love, Easy Ways of 161 

Divine Presence 163 

Do All for God 243 

Do All in God 244 

E 

Edification 221 

Emotion and Affection 257 

Evening Exercise. 95 



PAGE 

Every Event a Providence 190 

Evil of Taking Offense 235 

Evil-speaking 100 

F 

Faber, Frederick William 214 

Faith in God 253 

Faith, Receiving by 202 

Fasting 97 

Faults of Others 179 

Fenelon 153 

Francis of Sales 91 

Freedom, Spiritual 197 

G 

God, Faith in 253 

God, Glory of 217 

God, Guidance of 206 

God, Knowledge of 218 

God, Presence of. 56 

God, Trust in 219 

Good Thoughts from Everything.. 127 

Goulburn, Edward Meyrick 242 

Guillore 315 

II 

Hatred of Evil 248 

Holy Indifference 108 

44 Holy Living and Dying " 129 

How to be Humble 83 

How to Watch 175 

How to Work 252 

Human Will 167 

Humble-mindedness 104 

Humility 32, 140, 181 



329 



Index 



I PAGE 

Image of Christ 195 

41 Imitation of Christ " 22 

Independence 177 

Indifference, Holy 108 

Interruptions 245 

J 

Joy and Sadness 67 

K 

Kempis, Thomas a 22 

Kindness 238 

Knowledge of God 218 

L 

Lawrence, Brother 512 

Liberty of Spirit 40 

Little Things 115 

Living by the Moment « 205 

Love, Brotherly 54 

Love of Jesus 35 

Love of Our Neighbor 250 

Love of Our Own Opinion 121 

4 ' Love of Religious Perfection " . . 319 

Love to God 150 

Love to God, when Most Perfect. . 112 

Lukewarmness 223 

M 

Meditation 65 

Moderation 182 

Morning Exercise 94 

Mortification 72 

Mortification of Our Members 256 

o 

Obstinacy 66 

Offense, Evil of Taking. 235 

P 

Patience 42, 125 

Patience, The Work of 230 

Peace of Mind and Heart 261 

Perfect Love, Best Proof of 194 

" Perfection, Love of Religious ". . 319 
Perfection not Reached in a Mo- 
ment 158 

Perfection of Our Ordinary Actions 71 

Perfection to be Sought Sensibly.. 116 

Praise of Men 36 

330 



PAGE 

Prayer 81 

Presence of God 56 

Presence of God,Practice of the. . 138, 312 

Presence, The Divine 163 

11 Professor, The Nonsuch " 302 

Providence, Every Event a 190 

Purity of Intention 132, 225, 246 

Q 

Quietness of Spirit 102 

R 

Rash Judgments 76 

Receiving by Faith 202 

Recollection 228 

"Rejoicing, Art of Always" 306 

" Religio Medici " 280 

Religious Maxims 209 

Renouncing Ail, What It Means. . 172 

Right Desires 27 

Rodriguez, Alphonsede 51 

Rutherford's Letters 293 

S 

" Saint's Everlasting Rest " 298 

Sarasa, Alphonsus de 306 

Scripture, Devotional Use of. 263 

Scupoli 285 

Seeker, William. 302 

Self-deceit 233 

Self-denial 72 

"Self-denunciation" 315 

Self-will, Fever of 120 

Signs of Progress 226 

Simplicity 232 

Simplicity and Purity 34 

Sir Thomas Browne 289 

Spiritual Advancement. 52 

" Spiritual Combat" 285 

Spiritual Freedom. 197 

Suggestive Sentences 45 

Surrender, Absolute 199 

Sweetness of Temper 123 

T 

Tauler, John 275 

Taylor, Jeremy 129 

Temptations ; . . . 29, 69, 95, 229 

" Theologia Germanica" 2g x 



Index 



PAGE 

Time, Care of Our 135 

True Learning , 26 

True Prayer 165 

Trust in God 219 

u 

Upham, Thomas C 188 

V 

Vainglory 78 

Various Advices 183 

Virtue Tested 119 



W page 

Way to Peace 31 

What Shuts Christ from Us 259 

When Love to God is Most Perfect 112 

Will, Human 167 

Will of God, Conformity to the ... 59 

Words, Proper Function of 266 

Work, How to 252 

z 

Zeal for Improvement 24 



331 



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